Circle defends USDC business model as rival stablecoins offer partners more income

Stablecoin issuer Circle has published figures defending how it shares income from its USDC token, as competing stablecoin networks offer partners a larger cut of reserve income, CoinDesk reported on Saturday 17 October.

In a blog post on Friday, Circle chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi said the company kept about 7 cents in net profit for each dollar of revenue in the first half of 2026. Circle said revenue was about $US1.4 billion and that $819 million went to distribution partners and transaction costs, according to CoinDesk and Investing.com.

Circle said the remaining $473 million covered compliance, liquidity and product development. CoinDesk reported that figure included about $214 million in stock-based compensation and related costs.

The dispute is over who receives the interest earned on the assets backing stablecoins. Coinbase, Circle’s largest USDC partner, also backs Open USD, a network launched in June with Stripe and BlackRock that passes reserve income, minus a management fee, to participants, CoinDesk reported.

“The costs of redemption, compliance, and resilience don’t disappear just because the issuer declined to pay them,” Razzaghi wrote. Circle’s post did not name Open USD.

Circle said standard USDC redemptions remain free and typically settle within two business days. Investing.com reported that Circle said USDC accounted for about 77% of global stablecoin transaction volume in June. The company is due to report third-quarter results on 4 November.