Circle opens its books: $1.4 billion in USDC revenue, $819 million handed to partners and 7 cents on the dollar kept

Circle has decided to argue with numbers. In a blog post on Friday, the issuer of USDC said it took in about $1.4 billion of revenue in the first half of 2026 and that $819 million of it, about 59%, went to the partners that distribute the stablecoin and to transaction costs, The Block reported. A further $473 million or so, about a third, was reinvested in infrastructure, licensing, liquidity, compliance and product development. What was left was a net profit of roughly 7 cents per dollar of revenue.

The post, written by Kash Razzaghi, whose Circle biography lists him as chief commercial officer, is a response to a new wave of stablecoin issuers arguing that the established players hoard the interest earned on reserves and make redemption slow and costly. Circle's answer is that most of the money leaves the building, and that the rest is what keeps the coin usable. "That reinvestment is not overhead," Razzaghi wrote.

The scale figures are the ones rivals will study. Circle said USDC settled more than $36 trillion on-chain in the half year and made up about 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June, against 60% a year earlier. PANews reported that Circle also said customers using its Circle Payment Network or its platform can now redeem USDC free of charge, in near real time, around the clock.

The disclosure lands as a new wave of issuers pitches models that promise to pass more of the reserve yield to users, which is exactly the argument Circle is trying to pre-empt. The next hard numbers come with third-quarter results on November 4.