Circle Reports $701 Million Q2 Revenue, Sets Arc Mainnet Date
The company behind the worlds second-largest stablecoin just posted the kind of earnings report that raises as many questions as it answers.
Circle reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $701 million, up 7% year-over-year but falling short of analyst consensus, alongside USDC circulation of $73.3 billion and average circulation up 25% year-over-year to $76.5 billion. On-chain transaction volume settled through USDC grew 151% year-over-year to $14.8 trillion, while adjusted EBITDA rose 8% to $143 million.
The gap between strong underlying usage metrics, particularly that 151% jump in on-chain volume, and a revenue figure that missed expectations highlights a structural tension increasingly familiar to stablecoin issuers: circulation and transaction volume can grow rapidly while revenue growth, largely tied to reserve interest income, moves on a different track shaped heavily by prevailing interest rates.
On the August 5 earnings call, Circle confirmed its agreement with Coinbase covering USDC distribution has been renewed, resolving one of the more closely watched open questions about the long-term economics of that partnership, and announced that its Arc blockchain will reach public mainnet on September 16, 2026.
Arc, Circles own layer-1 network built specifically around stablecoin settlement and designed to compete with the growing field of specialized settlement chains, represents the companys clearest bet yet on owning more of the infrastructure stack rather than depending entirely on issuing USDC across other companies blockchains.
Want to understand how a stablecoin issuer like Circle actually generates revenue from reserves? Learn more in the Bitcoin Academy.