Circle generated $1.4 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026, with a net profit margin of 7 cents per dollar of revenue, Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi said in a blog post Friday.
The stablecoin issuer spent $819 million on distribution and transaction costs over the six-month period. Operational expenses—compliance, liquidity management and product development—totaled $473 million. Of that, approximately $214 million was stock-based compensation.
The financial disclosure comes as competitors pressure Circle's model. Coinbase, Circle's largest USDC distribution partner, backs Open USD, a rival that launched in June. Open USD eliminates minting and redemption fees and instead passes reserve income to participants after a management fee. Stripe and BlackRock also support Open USD, which now has its OUSD token live.
Paxos-led Global Dollar Network (USDG) pursues the same strategy, sharing reserve income with participants.
Razzaghi argued that redemption, compliance and network resilience costs persist regardless of whether an issuer charges for them directly. USDC redemptions remain free and typically settle within two business days. Circle also offers near-real-time redemptions at no cost for qualifying platform customers and payment flows processed through its Circle Payments Network.
The competitive pressure reflects investor appetite for yield. Real-world asset-backed stablecoins currently deliver 5-7 percent yield from real credit, while crypto funding rates have compressed to roughly 4 percent.
Circle has moved to shore up its position. In September, Binance acquired a $100 million stake in the firm under a five-year agreement with a fee structure tied to USDC held through Circle's wallet service.
