USDC issuer Circle generated roughly $1.4 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026 while settling more than $36 trillion in onchain transactions, the company disclosed on October 16 in a post laying out the economics behind its stablecoin.
The figures come from a company blog post by Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi, who framed the disclosure as an answer to newer stablecoin issuers that claim incumbents keep too much of the economics.
How USDC’s Revenue Is Distributed
Of the roughly $1.4 billion in first-half revenue, Circle paid about $819 million, or roughly 59 cents of every dollar, to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs. About $473 million, or 34 cents per dollar, went toward licenses, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance programs, and blockchain integrations, the post said. Circle reported about 7 cents of net profit per dollar of revenue.
Circle also said it minted and redeemed more than $315 billion of USDC in the period, about $1.7 billion every day, and that USDC carried roughly 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June, up from 60% a year earlier.
Why Circle Is Publishing the Numbers
Razzaghi positioned the disclosure as a rebuttal to new entrants that promise to share a “substantial majority” of their economics with partners. A stablecoin “that distributes everything but funds nothing” leaves out the cost of redemption, compliance, and resilience, he wrote, adding that without that foundation a stablecoin “is not a digital dollar; it is a token.”
The post also detailed redemption terms: all Circle customers can redeem USDC for free through standard banking rails, settling in up to two business days, while payment flows on the Circle Payments Network and platform customers can now redeem free in near real time.
USDC’s Scale and the Partner Network
The disclosure underlines USDC’s distribution footprint. Coinbase, Circle’s largest partner, reported average USDC balances of $20 billion in the second quarter, up 44% year over year, while Binance in September signed a five-year commercial agreement and invested $100 million in Circle. More than 150 partners hold an economic interest in USDC’s growth, according to the post.
Circle said it holds more than 55 licenses and registrations, including an OCC national trust bank charter and MiCA compliance, and operates natively on more than 35 blockchains. Its partner network spans wallets, exchanges, banks, and payment networks, a group that includes Coinbase, which recently expanded enterprise stablecoin payments with Marqeta.
