Circle says USDC settled $36 trillion in first half of 2026
Circle said USDC settled more than $36 trillion in onchain transaction volume in the first half of 2026, underscoring the scale of the stablecoin’s use as the company defended its economic model against new entrants promising cheaper alternatives. In the same period, Circle said it minted and redeemed more than $315 billion of USDC and paid $819 million to distribution partners and transaction costs.
Revenue split and network economics
In a blog post published Oct. 16, 2026, Circle said it generated about $1.4 billion in revenue in the first half and paid roughly 59 cents of every dollar to partners that distribute USDC across wallets, exchanges, banks, fintechs, enterprises and payment networks. Circle said it reinvested about $473 million, or roughly 34 cents of every revenue dollar, into licenses, banking relationships, settlement liquidity, compliance, product development and blockchain integrations, leaving 7 cents of net profit per dollar of revenue.
The company said USDC carried roughly 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume by June, up from 60% a year earlier. Circle framed that share as evidence that the stablecoin’s adoption model rewards partners that drive balances and payment flows rather than concentrating economics at the issuer.
Redemption terms and liquidity requirements
Circle said all customers can redeem USDC for free through standard banking rails, with settlement in up to two business days. It added that customers who move flows over the Circle Payments Network or build on the Circle Platform can now qualify for free, near-real-time redemption. The company said it supports that speed by maintaining a substantial pool of cash with bank partners so redemptions can be met at any hour, including when banks are closed.
Circle said it redeemed $71.8 billion in USDC in the first quarter of 2026, about 90% of the total supply in circulation at the time, and that combined minting and redemption volume reached $170 billion in the second quarter, up 105% from a year earlier. The company said its payments network is used by card networks, processors, remittance providers, enterprises and fintechs that settle real volume.
Partners, infrastructure and regulatory footprint
Circle cited Coinbase as its largest and longest-standing partner and said Coinbase reported average USDC held in its products reached $20 billion in the second quarter, up 44% year over year. It also said Binance signed a five-year commercial agreement and invested $100 million in Circle in September, and that more than 150 other partners have an economic interest in USDC’s growth.
To support the network, Circle said it has more than 55 licenses and registrations, including an OCC national trust bank charter and compliance with MiCA, relationships with more than 25 partner banks, reserves in a government money market fund managed by BlackRock and custodied at BNY, and global compliance and sanctions programs across 185 countries. The company said USDC is deployed on more than 35 blockchains and is used by major payment networks, banks and developers as a settlement asset.
The post presented USDC as a business built on a flywheel: partners earn more as adoption grows, while Circle says it continues to fund the infrastructure needed to keep redemptions, compliance and liquidity working at scale. The filing-style disclosures and product descriptions in the post also included limits and risk notes for Circle Payments Network, Arc, Circle Mint and Circle Wallets, including that some services are only available to institutions and that Arc has not been reviewed or approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services or any other authority.