The USDC issuer said about $819 million, roughly 59 cents of each dollar of first-half revenue, went to distribution partners and transaction costs. It presented the figures as a rebuttal to newer issuers promising to give away most of their income, and it plans to enter about 40 new markets.
Circle has published the split that defines its business: who gets the interest earned on the reserves behind USDC.
In a disclosure on Friday, the stablecoin issuer said that in the first half of 2026 it spent about $819 million "for its USDC distribution partners and transaction costs." On revenue of about $1.4 billion, that is about 59 cents of every dollar. Circle said it reinvested about $473 million, or 34 cents, in licenses, banking relationships and liquidity, and that it "made 7 cents of net profit from every dollar of revenue earned."
Circle's reported first-half net income was about $103 million, or 7.4% of revenue, which squares with the split: $1.395 billion of revenue less $819 million and $473 million leaves about $103 million.
The target
The figures were framed as an argument. "This is what new issuers leave out when they promise to share the 'substantial majority' of their economics: a stablecoin that distributes everything but funds nothing," Circle wrote. The company did not name a competitor.
Circle's case is that scale and infrastructure are what partners pay for. It said USDC settled more than $36 trillion on blockchains in the first half, and that it minted or redeemed more than $315 billion, about $1.7 billion a day. It put USDC's share of global stablecoin transaction volume at about 77% by June, up from 60% a year earlier. First-quarter redemptions reached $71.8 billion, about 90% of the supply outstanding at the time, and second-quarter minting and redemption totaled $170 billion, up 105% from a year earlier.
Binance signed a five-year agreement with Circle and invested $100 million in the company in September. Circle says it has more than 150 other partners.
Circle is also expanding geographically, with plans to enter about 40 emerging and developing countries.
The stock
Circle shares traded at $82.94 in early afternoon, down 4.6%, after rising 9.3% on Thursday. The decline came on a day when crypto-linked stocks fell 4% to 10% in a broad selloff, so it says little about how investors received the disclosure.
Why the split matters
Circle earns money on the Treasury bills and cash that back USDC. Its partners, the exchanges and apps that put USDC in front of users, want a share of that income in exchange for distribution. The more competitors offer partners, the more Circle must pay to keep them, and the thinner its 7-cent margin becomes. Lower interest rates would shrink the pool everyone is dividing.
Market implications
One reading is that Circle has a moat. Regulatory licenses, banking access and the ability to process billions of dollars of redemptions a day are expensive to replicate, and partners stay because USDC works at scale.
A second reading is that the margin is the weak point. With nearly 60% of revenue going out the door and 7 cents kept, any increase in partner payouts or any cut in interest rates would hit profit hard.
A third reading is that the disclosure repackages figures already in Circle's filings to make a commercial argument, ahead of its third-quarter results.
What to watch
Circle's third-quarter report on Nov. 4, any change in distribution terms with large partners, and USDC's share of stablecoin volume as newer issuers compete on yield-sharing.