Key Takeaways:
- Circle raised an additional $182 million in the ARC token presale during Q3.
- Onchain transaction volume rose almost 50% YoY for USDC to $13.9 trillion.
- Reserve income dropped by 8% and USDC share closed the quarter at 27%.
The results of Circle in the third quarter indicate that the business is becoming less reliant on reserve income. The stablecoin issuer reported being confident with the top line and the bottom line as the ARC token presale boosted revenues and USDC further onchained.
ARC Token Adds $182M to Circle’s Revenue Mix
Circle reports total revenue and a reserve income of $865 million in Q3 2026, compared to 17% growth a year ago. Much of that increase was attributable to other revenues, which rose an impressive 627% to $207 million. One of the figures allocated to the ARC token presale is $182 million.
Net income from continuing operations increased five percent from the prior-year level to $226 million; adjusted EBITDA grew by 85 percent on the year to $317 million. Diluted earnings per share were up to $0.84 from $0.64 a year ago.
Read More: Circle Brings USDC and EURC Into SAP Workflows Powering 84% of Global Commerce
Arc Expands Beyond Circle’s Stablecoin Business
Arc launched on public mainnet on Sept. 16 with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders. Circle also released the initial 10 billion tokens of ARC. Security, usefulness and governance are the main features of the token as Arc moves towards a proof-of-stake format in 2027.
The token sale provides Circle with additional income streams involving USDC’s reserves’ traditional economics.
USDC Volume Jumps to $13.9T
Despite the weakened economic conditions of the reserve business, the activity of USDC continued to be fairly good. Average circulation for USDC during the quarter was $73.3 billion, increasing 8% over a year ago. The volume of transactions increased by 49%, reaching $13.9 trillion onchain.
At the end of the quarter, USDC had $73.9 billion worth of currency in circulation. Similarly, onchain wallet addresses with more than $10 in USDC on their wallet increased 16% in a year to 7.3 million, Circle reported.
The company, however, lost 183 bps from a year ago to 27% of the market in fiat-based stablecoins.
Read More: Circle Targets 100+ Markets and $25B Flows in Major USDC Payments Expansion Deal
Reserve Income Slips Despite Higher USDC Circulation
Circle’s reserves decreased $8 million to $658M. The largest pressure was from the reserve return rate, which fell 61 basis points to 3.5%. That was tempered a bit by a rise in circulation of the USDC.
The effect of distribution, transaction and other costs decreased by 8% to $412 million, which helped Revenue less Distribution costs total $453 million.
Circle adopted a multi-years target to increase the circulation of USDC at a compound annual rate of 40% through market cycles. It also impacted other revenues in 2026 with a guidance of $310 million to $330 million, which encompasses amounts from recognized ARC token presale revenue.
