Daily Crypto Briefs 
NEW YORK, August 5, 2026
Circle reported $48 million in second-quarter net income Tuesday as USDC circulation reached $73.3 billion and total revenue and reserve income rose 7% to $701 million, showing the stablecoin issuer’s core reserve business remained profitable even as it said crypto-market activity had slowed.
The New York company said USDC onchain transaction volume grew 151% from a year earlier to $14.8 trillion in the quarter ended June 30. Adjusted EBITDA rose 8% to $143 million, while Circle’s stock-market and stablecoin metrics put the report among the day’s most closely watched crypto earnings releases.
The market snapshot was mixed. CoinGecko listed USDC at about $0.9997 on August 5, with a market capitalization near $72.1 billion and 24-hour trading volume near $10.2 billion. Circle’s own quarter-end circulation figure was $73.3 billion, down from the $77.0 billion it reported at March 31 but 19% above the year-earlier level. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index stood at 27, or Fear.
USDC
USDCIn its earnings release, Circle attributed the near-term backdrop to interest rates and a slower crypto market. Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire said, “Our quarterly financial results reflect the current rate environment and a crypto market that has slowed,” before pointing to the firm’s trust charter, payment products and planned Arc launch.
The comparison with last year needs context. Circle posted a $482 million second-quarter 2025 loss after its initial public offering, largely because it recorded $591 million of IPO-related non-cash charges. This year’s $48 million profit was therefore a return to positive net income, not a simple like-for-like jump in operating demand.
The figures make the next phase of Circle’s stablecoin business more important than a single quarter’s earnings beat or miss. Reserve income still accounts for most reported revenue, so USDC circulation and the interest earned on its backing assets remain the central variables for a company trying to turn payments, tokenization and blockchain infrastructure into larger recurring businesses.
Circle Q2 Revenue Reaches $701M as Reserve Yield Falls
Circle said reserve income rose 5% from a year earlier to $668 million, supported by 25% growth in average USDC circulation but partly offset by a 66-basis-point decline in the reserve return rate. Other revenue grew 41% to $34 million, which the company linked to higher subscription and services revenue.
That split explains why the revenue headline grew more slowly than the onchain-volume metric. A stablecoin can process more transactions without every transfer producing direct revenue for the issuer, while lower yields on cash and short-term Treasury assets can constrain the income generated by reserves.
Total distribution, transaction and other costs were $412 million, up 1%. Circle said the costs were driven mostly by higher distribution payments, a category that includes the commercial arrangements needed to get USDC into exchanges, wallets and payment channels.
Adjusted operating expenses increased 23% to $146 million as Circle invested in product development, infrastructure and artificial-intelligence capabilities. The company said adjusted EBITDA rose to $143 million, leaving a narrower operating cushion than the raw growth in USDC transaction volume might suggest.
Circle’s result comes one month after Daily Crypto Briefs covered the company’s IBM blockchain patent acquisition. That purchase did not carry a disclosed price, but it illustrates the broader expansion effort that Circle is funding while its reserve-income engine remains interest-rate sensitive.
USDC Circulation Drops From Q1 Despite 19% Annual Growth
The $73.3 billion quarter-end USDC total was 19% higher than the same point in 2025, but it was lower than the $77.0 billion Circle reported at the end of the first quarter. Circle’s Q2 release did not assign a separate cause to the sequential movement in outstanding USDC.
Transaction use nevertheless grew sharply on an annual basis. The company reported $14.8 trillion in Q2 onchain volume, compared with $21.5 trillion in the first quarter. The two disclosures use different quarters and market conditions, but together they show that USDC activity can be very large even when the outstanding supply does not rise every period.
That distinction is relevant to the ongoing contest with Tether. Daily Crypto Briefs reported in July that USDC led adjusted stablecoin transaction volume in Visa onchain data, while USDT remained the larger token by supply. Circle’s quarter-end figure does not change that separation between payment activity and market capitalization.
Circle also said its Circle Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume based on the trailing 30 days at the end of Q2, up 76% quarter over quarter. It counted 175 enrolled financial institutions, up 29% from the prior quarter, though the company did not disclose how many of those institutions were actively generating volume.
Arc Launch and Trust Charters Set the Next Circle Test
Circle used the earnings release to attach product and regulatory milestones to the financial update. It said Arc has more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders and is scheduled to open its public mainnet on September 16, with USDC used for network fees.
The Arc announcement has a separate institutional dimension. Circle named BlackRock, BNY, DTCC and Standard Chartered among firms building or exploring integrations, while a related Daily Crypto Briefs report on Arc’s founding validators details the announced operator group and the limits of what is known before public launch.
On the regulatory side, Circle repeated that its federal trust-bank approval enables regulated digital-asset custody and may support future management of the USDC Reserve. The approval itself is already final, as covered in our report on Circle’s OCC trust-bank charter, but Circle did not give a date for any reserve-management transition.
The near-term checks are concrete: the direction of USDC circulation after June 30, whether lower reserve yields continue to restrain revenue, the September 16 Arc launch and whether the payments network converts enrollment into disclosed activity. Market sentiment remains guarded, with Alternative.me’s index at 27, while Circle’s results put the next numbers in the hands of its stablecoin users and institutional partners.
Fear & Greed Index
August 5, 2026Stay up to date
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Primary sources and further reading
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| | Circle: Second-quarter 2026 results |
| | Circle: First-quarter 2026 results |
| | CoinGecko: USDC market data |
| | Alternative.me: Crypto Fear and Greed Index |
Fact-checked by: Daily Crypto Briefs Fact-Check Desk
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Frequently Asked Questions
What did Circle report for Q2 2026?
Circle reported $701 million in total revenue and reserve income, $48 million in net income and $143 million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
How much USDC was in circulation at the end of Q2 2026?
Circle reported $73.3 billion of USDC in circulation at June 30, 2026, up 19% from a year earlier.
Why did Circle's net income rise from the prior year?
Circle said net income improved by $530 million from Q2 2025 primarily because the prior-year quarter included substantially higher stock-based compensation tied to its IPO.
How large was USDC onchain transaction volume in Q2?
Circle reported $14.8 trillion in USDC onchain transaction volume during Q2 2026, up 151% from the same quarter a year earlier.
What should investors watch after Circle's Q2 earnings?
Key checks include USDC circulation, the September 16 public-mainnet target for Arc, Circle Payments Network transaction volume and the effect of interest rates on reserve income.