Circle, the issuer of USDC, released its third-quarter 2026 results on Wednesday, November 4, and disclosed in the report that it has cut about 5% of its staff. The quarter was profitable, but reserve income, the company's largest revenue line, declined 8%.
What we know about the cuts
Circle included the headcount reduction in its Q3 2026 earnings release and booked $9.1M in restructuring costs for the quarter. At the same time, the company reported net income from continuing operations of $226M, up 5% year-over-year.
Operating expenses rose 16% to $245M, mainly on higher G&A, depreciation and amortization, IT infrastructure and marketing, partially offset by lower stock-based compensation. Adjusted operating expenses rose 13% to $139M.
The quarter in numbers
Metric | Q3 2026 | vs. Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|
Total revenue and reserve income | $865M | +17% |
Reserve income | $658M | -8% |
Other revenue | $207M | +627% |
Net income from continuing operations | $226M | +5% |
Adjusted EBITDA | $317M | +85% |
Operating expenses | $245M | +16% |
The drop in reserve income came primarily from a 61 basis point decline in the reserve return rate, partially offset by 8% growth in average USDC in circulation to $73.3B.
Almost all of the growth in other revenue came from the ARC token presale, which brought in $182M. Distribution, transaction and other costs fell 8% to $412M, mostly from lower distribution payments.
USDC and Arc
- USDC onchain transaction volume: $13.9T in Q3, up 49% year-over-year
- Circle Payments Network reached $41.3B in annualized total payment volume
- Arc public mainnet launched on September 16 with 100+ institutional and ecosystem builders on day one
- ARC genesis mint: full initial supply of 10 billion tokens, with a transition to proof of stake planned for 2027
CEO Jeremy Allaire wrote on X that USDC carried 79% of all stablecoin transaction volume, up from 66% a year ago, and that a record $208B of USDC was minted and redeemed during the quarter. "In January, the GENIUS Act takes effect and regulated digital dollars go mainstream," he added.
Deals and partnerships
- Circle signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-based B2B cross-border payments platform with $25B+ in annualized volume and 60+ banking and fintech partners; closing is expected in 2027
- Binance announced a $100M equity investment in Circle and expanded its partnership to promote USDC, with a focus on emerging markets
- Visa moved Visa Direct stablecoin prefunding from pilots to commercial deployment across 180+ countries
- Samsung Wallet now lets eligible U.S. Galaxy users send USDC to bank accounts in more than 60 countries
- Circle became a Principal Partner of Chelsea FC, with Circle and USDC branding on team shirts from the 2026/27 season