Circle Says Its Partners Now Keep 59 Cents of Every Dollar of USDC Revenue

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• Circle said USDC settled more than $36 trillion in onchain transaction volume during the first half of 2026, carrying about 77 percent of global stablecoin transaction volume by June
• Of every dollar of USDC-related revenue in H1 2026, Circle paid out about 59 cents to distribution partners and transaction costs, reinvested about 34 cents, and kept roughly 7 cents as profit
• Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement with Circle in September 2026 and invested $100 million in the company, joining more than 150 partners with an economic interest in USDC’s growth

Circle published a blog post on October 16, 2026 titled “The Economics of USDC and Why Our Partners Win,” written by Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi, laying out in unusual detail how the company shares USDC’s revenue with the exchanges, wallets and platforms that distribute the stablecoin. The post comes as USDC has grown into a dominant share of global stablecoin activity, with Circle reporting that the token settled more than $36 trillion in onchain transaction volume during the first half of 2026 alone, working out to roughly $1.7 billion minted or redeemed every day on average, for a combined total exceeding $315 billion in minting and redemption activity over the six-month period.

According to Circle’s own figures, USDC carried approximately 77 percent of global stablecoin transaction volume as of June 2026, up sharply from roughly 60 percent a year earlier, a gain in market share the company attributes in part to the economic incentives it offers the partners who integrate and promote the token. Circle reported H1 2026 revenue of approximately $1.4 billion, and broke down how that revenue gets allocated: about 59 cents of every revenue dollar, or roughly $819 million, goes to distribution partners and transaction costs, about 34 cents, or $473 million, gets reinvested back into Circle’s own business, and the remaining 7 cents or so flows through as net profit.

Circle pointed to specific partner results it says illustrate the model working as intended. Coinbase reported that the average amount of USDC held across its products hit an all-time high of $20 billion, up 44 percent year over year, according to Coinbase’s own second-quarter results. Binance, meanwhile, signed a five-year commercial agreement with Circle in September 2026 and separately invested $100 million directly into the company, a significant commitment from one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.

Circle said more than 150 partners now hold some form of economic interest tied to USDC’s continued growth, and that more than 70 percent of companies appearing on recent stablecoin-consortium launch rosters build their offerings on top of USDC rather than a competing stablecoin. The company also cited strong redemption activity as evidence of USDC’s liquidity, noting that the first quarter of 2026 alone saw $71.8 billion redeemed, representing about 90 percent of the token’s circulating supply at that point in time, while combined mint and redeem volume in the second quarter reached $170 billion, up 105 percent year over year.

Underpinning all of this, Circle described holding more than 55 licenses and registrations globally, including an OCC national trust bank charter, working with more than 25 partner banks, and keeping its reserves in a BlackRock-managed government money market fund custodied at BNY Mellon with monthly attestations. The blog post, published on Circle’s own website, presented all of these figures as the company’s own self-reported data rather than independently audited statistics.