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

Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) is defending its business model as Coinbase, its largest distribution partner, backs a rival that aims to give businesses more income from stablecoin reserves.

In a blog post on Friday, Chief Commercial Officer Kash Razzaghi wrote that Circle kept about 7 cents in net profit for each dollar in revenue made during the first half of 2026. The firm brought in about $1.4 billion, while distribution and transaction costs totaled $819 million.

The post puts the figures at the center of a dispute over who gets the interest earned on assets backing stablecoins.

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

Coinbase is Circle’s largest USDC partner, but is also a backer of Open USD, along with Stripe and BlackRock. Open USD, unveiled in June, aims to let businesses mint and redeem stablecoins without fees, while passing off reserve income minus a management fee to participants.

Circle's post did not name Open USD, whose OUSD token is now live, directly, and there are other competitors like the Paxos-led Global Dollar Network (USDG) that also share reserve income with participants.

"The costs of redemption, compliance, and resilience don't disappear just because the issuer declined to pay them," Razzaghi wrote.

Circle has also been working to secure additional distribution partners. In September, Binance bought a $100 million stake in the firm under a five-year deal that includes a fee tied to USDC held through Circle's wallet service.

Circle said standard USDC redemptions remain free and "typically settle in up to two business days." Qualifying platform customers and payment flows through Circle Payments Network can now access near-real-time redemptions at no cost, it said.