Circle disclosed on October 16, 2026, that it retained only 7 cents of net profit per dollar of its $1.4 billion H1 2026 revenue. The stablecoin issuer paid $819 million to distribution partners like Coinbase and $473 million to compliance and operations. Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi defended the model against zero-fee yield-sharing rivals like Open USD, arguing that heavy infrastructure investment is required to support USDC's $36 trillion in H1 transaction volume.
Defense of Circle's revenue model
- ▪Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi published a blog post on October 16, 2026, defending Circle's revenue-sharing model against rival stablecoin issuers that offer partners higher reserve earnings
- ▪Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi argued that redemption, compliance, and resilience costs do not disappear just because a stablecoin issuer declines to pay them
Circle's H1 2026 financial results
- ▪Circle generated approximately $1.4 billion in total revenue and reserve income during the first half of 2026
- ▪Circle spent $473 million, or 34 cents per revenue dollar, on operating expenses, network investments, compliance, licenses, and $214 million in stock-based compensation during H1 2026
- ▪Circle paid $819 million, or 59 cents per dollar of H1 2026 revenue, to distribution partners and transaction costs
- ▪Circle retained approximately seven cents of every revenue dollar, or $103 million, as net profit in the first half of 2026
Coinbase's USDC holdings and revenue
- ▪Coinbase captured roughly half of USDC's total economic reward distribution over the year leading up to H1 2026
- ▪Coinbase held a record average of $20 billion in USDC across its products in Q2 2026, representing over 30% of USDC's quarter-end circulating supply
Circle's global reserves and compliance
- ▪Circle maintains reserves across more than 25 banking partners, over 55 regulatory licenses, 35 blockchains, and a BlackRock-managed money market fund custodied at BNY
- ▪Circle maintains compliance operations covering 185 countries to serve financial institutions operating under different regulatory requirements
Circle's USDC redemption services
- ▪Circle offers eligible customers free, near-real-time 24/7 redemptions through the Circle Payments Network and platform products
- ▪Circle provides direct customers free standard USDC redemptions through bank rails that settle within two business days
USDC market volume and supply
- ▪USDC accounted for approximately 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June 2026, up from 60% in June 2025
- ▪USDC processed more than $36 trillion in on-chain transaction volume in the first half of 2026
- ▪Circle handled over $315 billion in combined USDC issuance and redemptions during H1 2026, averaging $1.7 billion daily
- ▪USDC circulating supply stood at approximately $72.6 billion in October 2026, roughly 100 times larger than OUSD's supply
Launch and backing of Open USD
- ▪Stripe integrated OUSD across its stablecoin stack on September 30, 2026, allowing partner businesses to earn rewards tied to their balances and activity
- ▪The Open Standard Consortium launched the Open USD (OUSD) token on June 30, 2026, promising zero minting or burning fees and distributing reserve earnings to partners minus a management fee
- ▪Open USD is supported by a consortium of over 140 companies including Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock
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