Circle Q3 Revenue Jumps 17% on $182 Million ARC Presale

Circle Internet Group's third-quarter revenue and reserve income rose 16.9% year over year to $864.9 million, helped by a one-off $182 million presale of the ARC token, according to the company's earnings release. The company also reduced its workforce by about 5%.

Circle's stock recovered from an opening decline on Wednesday, trading at $77.03, up 2.41%, at 16:18 GMT+1 after falling to $72.90 at 15:59. Shares had dropped as much as 3.08% below Tuesday's close of $75.22 before buyers returned, TradingView data showed.

CRCL ended the five sessions 3.09% higher, while remaining down 7.46% over one month and 32.36% over one year.

The ARC presale drove the revenue increase

Circle's revenue and reserve income increased by $125.1 million from the year-earlier quarter. The $182 million ARC presale was 1.45 times the total increase. Excluding it, revenue and reserve income would have been $682.9 million, down 7.7% from $739.8 million.

Other revenue rose 627% to $207.3 million. Without the presale, it was $25.3 million, down 11.4% from $28.5 million. The earnings release attributed the decline to lower subscription and services revenue.

Circle guided full-year other revenue to between $310 million and $330 million, including recognized ARC presale revenue. Nine-month other revenue was $282.5 million, implying $27.5 million to $47.5 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $207.3 million in the third quarter.

Reserve income fell as returns declined

Reserve income, which Circle earns from assets backing USDC, fell 7.5% to $657.6 million. The reserve return rate declined by 61 basis points to 3.5%, partly offset by an 8% increase in average USDC circulation.

Reserve income peaked at $733 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 and has remained below $670 million for three quarters. Circle paid $409.2 million in distribution and transaction costs against $657.6 million of reserve income. The company said its resulting net reserve margin was 38%.

End-of-period USDC circulation was $73.9 billion, unchanged from a year earlier. Average circulation increased 8% to $73.3 billion. USDC's stablecoin market share ended the quarter at 27%, down 183 basis points, measured against dollar-backed stablecoins with more than $100 million in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.

Circle minted $104 billion of USDC and redeemed $104 billion during the quarter. Issuance increased 31%, while redemptions rose 54%.

Staff reduction and other business updates

Circle recorded $9.145 million in restructuring expenses, mainly for notice periods, severance payments, employee benefits and related costs. The reduction was “designed to better align our organizational structure with our operating model and strategic priorities,” the company said.

Stock-based compensation included a negative $5.7 million from forfeited restricted stock units linked to the restructuring. TradingView estimates that Circle employs about 1,100 people, putting a 5% reduction at roughly 55 roles. The company last cut staff in 2023, when it began layoffs despite expansion plans in Asia.

USDC on-chain transaction volume rose 49% to $13.9 trillion. Annualized payment volume on Circle Payments Network reached $41.3 billion. Revenue less distribution costs increased 55% to $453 million, and the margin widened by 1,291 basis points to 52%, although the presale had no distribution cost.

Net income from continuing operations rose 5.4% to $226 million, while pretax income increased 49.1%. The year-earlier quarter included a $61.3 million tax benefit. Diluted earnings per share rose from $0.64 to $0.84, while basic earnings per share fell from $0.93 to $0.89 as the basic share count increased 10.1% after dilutive securities converted into ordinary shares.

Circle agreed to buy Singapore cross-border payments platform Tazapay, which has more than $25 billion in annualized volume. The deal is expected to close in 2027. Circle launched the Arc public mainnet on Sept. 16, and Binance agreed on Sept. 22 to buy a $100 million equity stake in Circle at $80.84 per Class A share. Binance disclosed a $6.3 billion security breach five weeks later. Circle has also asked for changes to European Union Markets in Crypto-Assets rules on stablecoin reserves, and issues the euro-backed EURC.