✓ Official source USDC
Circle says 59 cents of every USDC revenue dollar went to partners and transaction costs in the first half
Summary
Circle said it generated about $1.4 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026 and paid about $819 million of it, roughly 59 cents per dollar, to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs, in an Oct. 16 blog post also reported by The Block.
The company said it spent about $473 million, roughly 34 cents per dollar, on licenses, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance, new products and blockchain integrations, and made 7 cents of net profit per dollar of revenue.
The post, written by the head of Circle’s commercial business, pushes back on “new entrants” that say issuers keep too much of the economics and that redemptions are expensive, which The Block described as a response to new stablecoin entrants.
Circle said all its customers can redeem USDC for free through standard rails, settling in up to two business days, and that customers using the Circle Payments Network or building on the Circle Platform can now redeem free in near real time.
Circle also said USDC settled more than $36 trillion in onchain volume in the first half and carried about 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June, up from 60% a year earlier.
Key facts
- Circle said Coinbase reported average USDC held in its products hit an all-time high of $20 billion in the second quarter, up 44% year over year.
- Circle said Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement and invested $100 million in Circle in September, and that more than 150 other partners have an economic interest in USDC’s growth.
- Circle said it redeemed $71.8 billion of USDC in the first quarter, roughly 90% of supply at the time, and that combined minting and redemption volume reached $170 billion in the second quarter, up 105% year over year.
- Circle cited more than 55 licenses and registrations, more than 25 partner banks and native deployments on over 35 blockchains.
- The Block said Circle outlined the economics in a Friday blog post, pushing back against new stablecoin entrants that argue existing issuers retain too much revenue and charge too much for redemptions.