Circle defends USDC economics as stablecoin rivals court its partners with bigger cuts.

Circle disclosed that it earned about 7 cents of net profit per dollar of revenue in the first half of 2026, generating $1.4 billion in revenue while incurring $819 million in distribution and transaction costs.

The remaining $473 million covered compliance, liquidity, product development and included $214 million in stock‑based compensation.

Coinbase, Circle’s biggest USDC partner, also backs Open USD, a new stablecoin that lets businesses mint and redeem without fees and shares reserve income after a management fee; other rivals such as Paxos‑led Global Dollar Network (USDG) follow a similar model.

Circle said redemption, compliance and resilience costs remain necessary and highlighted its expanding distribution network, noting Binance’s $100 million stake acquired in September with a fee tied to USDC held in Circle’s wallet service.

Summary rewritten by AI from the original article by CoinDesk.