Circle reported that it generated about $1.4 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026 while retaining roughly $0.07 in net profit for every dollar earned, illustrating how much of the USDC issuer’s income is being directed to distribution partners, compliance, banking access and operating infrastructure.
The company said it paid $819 million during the six-month period to USDC distribution partners and for transaction-related costs, equivalent to about $0.59 of every revenue dollar. A further $473 million, or about $0.34 per dollar of revenue, went toward operating expenses including financial licenses, bank relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance systems, product development and blockchain integrations.
Those figures leave about seven cents of profit from each dollar of revenue after partner compensation and reinvestment, based on Circle’s disclosures. The model places a large share of the reserve income generated by USDC back into the network of platforms and institutions that distribute and support the stablecoin.
Usdc settlement volume passes $36 trillion
USDC’s on-chain settlement volume exceeded $36 trillion in the first half of 2026, according to Circle. The figure measures transactions settled on public blockchains and should not be treated as equivalent to consumer payment volume, since on-chain activity can include trading, transfers between wallets, treasury movements and decentralized-finance transactions.
Minting and redemptions totaled more than $315 billion over the same period, averaging about $1.7 billion each day including weekends and holidays, Circle said. The flows show the scale of the issuer’s operational task: USDC supply must expand when customers deposit funds and contract when customers redeem tokens for fiat currency.
Circle said it redeemed $71.8 billion of USDC in the first quarter alone, an amount equivalent to about 90% of the stablecoin’s circulating market value at the time. In the second quarter, total USDC minting and redemptions reached $170 billion, up 105% from a year earlier, according to the company.
The combination of high turnover and relatively narrow retained profit places particular weight on Circle’s ability to keep bank rails, reserve management and blockchain settlement functioning reliably. Stablecoin users generally expect a token to move at blockchain speed while retaining an exit route into conventional currency systems.
Distribution payments tie platforms to usdc growth
Circle’s largest disclosed cost category was partner compensation. The company said partners are paid based on the amount of USDC they bring onto their platforms and maintain in pools, with payouts tied to the sharing of income earned on USDC reserves.
That structure gives exchanges, wallets, fintech firms, digital banks and payment companies a direct economic reason to promote USDC balances and liquidity. Circle said more than 150 partners participate in USDC-related economics across those categories, as well as banks and enterprise clients.
Coinbase reported an average USDC balance of $20 billion across its products during the second quarter of 2026, a record level and a 44% increase from the previous year. The disclosure offers a measure of the importance of major distribution channels to Circle’s revenue-sharing model, especially where USDC balances are held for extended periods rather than moved immediately across blockchains.
Circle also said Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement with the company in September and made a $100 million investment. The arrangement adds another major global trading platform to Circle’s distribution network, though Circle did not disclose the commercial terms of the agreement.
USDC accounted for about 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume as of June, up from 60% a year earlier, Circle said. The figure points to growth in USDC’s usage relative to competing dollar-linked tokens, although transaction-volume shares can be affected by exchange activity, blockchain deployment patterns and the way individual platforms account for transfers.
Banking and compliance remain major operating costs
Circle said it holds more than 55 financial licenses and registrations worldwide and has clearing relationships with more than 25 banks. The company reported compliance coverage across 185 countries and regions, along with native USDC deployments on more than 35 public blockchains.
Maintaining that footprint requires more than token issuance. It involves local licensing, sanctions and transaction-monitoring systems, banking partners capable of handling fiat settlement, and liquidity positioned to meet redemptions across different markets and time zones.
Circle said its reserve assets are managed by BlackRock and held at BNY. The company also said it publishes monthly independent attestation reports on the reserves backing USDC. Reserve income has historically been a central source of revenue for stablecoin issuers, making the size and composition of USDC balances closely tied to Circle’s financial results.
The company’s reported spending of $473 million in the first half shows that regulatory and banking access consume a substantial portion of that income. These costs can be less visible than blockchain transaction fees, but they are central to offering a dollar token that can be redeemed through regulated financial channels.
Free redemption model supports liquidity
Circle described standard USDC redemptions through bank rails as free for its customers, with settlement generally completed within up to two business days. Customers of the Circle Payments Network can access near-real-time redemptions around the clock at no cost, according to the company.
The different timelines reflect the distinction between traditional bank processing schedules and payment networks designed for continuous settlement. A redemption service that operates outside normal banking hours could reduce the need for platforms to hold excess precautionary liquidity, though its usefulness depends on a customer’s access to the relevant network.
Circle said its liquidity structure is designed to support roughly $1.7 billion in daily two-way minting and redemption activity. That target closely matches the company’s reported average daily first-half flow, suggesting that the infrastructure was operating near the scale Circle says it has built to handle.
Circle’s disclosures portray a stablecoin business in which revenue is widely shared rather than retained. The company’s ability to preserve its margins will depend on whether rising USDC balances and transaction flows continue to support the costs of partner incentives, regulated banking connections and global redemption capacity.
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