Circle Says Revenue Grew 17%. Take Out the $182M It Made Selling Its Own Token and Revenue Shrank. It's Also Cutting 5% of Staff

Circle’s revenue grew 17% last quarter. About $182 million of it came from Circle selling its own token. Without that sale, revenue went down.

That’s the main takeaway from the Q3 2026 results the USDC issuer published on November 4. Total revenue and reserve income came in at $865 million, up 17% year over year. But the business that makes Circle money, earning interest on the reserves behind USDC, shrank. The difference was made up by a one-time presale of ARC, the native token of Circle’s own Layer 1 blockchain.

Circle also disclosed it is cutting about 5% of its workforce.

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What Happened

From Circle’s release and coverage by Cointelegraph, American Banker and 24/7 Wall St.:

• Total revenue and reserve income: $865M, +17% YoY.
• Reserve income: $658M, down 8% YoY. Circle attributes the drop to a 61-basis-point fall in its reserve return rate, partly offset by 8% growth in average USDC in circulation.
• “Other revenue”: $207M, up 627% YoY, which Circle’s release credits to “the ARC token presale ($182 million), partially offset by lower subscription and services revenue.”
• Without ARC: total revenue was about $683M, down roughly 8% YoY, per Cointelegraph. 24/7 Wall St. puts non-ARC other revenue at about $25M, down 11%.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $317M, up 85%. Cointelegraph estimates it falls to about $135M without the presale, down 21% from $171M a year ago.
• Net income from continuing operations: $226M, up 5%.
• Average USDC in circulation: $73.3B, up 8%. But USDC ended the quarter at $73.9B, flat year over year, and its share of the stablecoin market fell about 183 bps to 27%, per 24/7 Wall St. and Cointelegraph.

CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen, quoted by American Banker:

“Flat USDC in a falling rate puts downward pressure on reserve income.”

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The Token Sale That Rescued the Quarter

In May, Circle sold ARC tokens at $0.30 each in a private placement led by a16z crypto, valuing the Arc network at $3 billion fully diluted. Reporting at the time put the first close at $222M, with a smaller second close of about $20M later.

According to 24/7 Wall St., Fox-Geen said on the call that Circle recognized around 75% of the roughly $242M in presale revenue this quarter. That revenue was booked as certain milestones were hit.

Circle’s release also carries this caveat. Among its forward-looking risks it lists “possible repayment obligations if key launch milestones are not achieved.” Reporting on the presale terms has tied those milestones to Arc’s planned move to proof of stake. In other words, some of the revenue behind this quarter’s growth could, in theory, have to be paid back.

Arc’s public mainnet launched in mid-September with an initial supply of 10 billion ARC. Transaction fees on Arc are paid in USDC, and Circle says ARC is for security, utility and governance. Circle expects staking revenue once the network moves to proof of stake, which is planned for 2027.

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The 5% Cut

American Banker reports the reduction comes with a one-time $9.1M restructuring charge. Circle said the move was:

“designed to better align our organizational structure with our operating model.”

Circle didn’t say how many people are affected. Its last 10-K reported roughly 1,100 employees at the end of 2025, so 5% would be somewhere around 50 to 60 roles. That’s an estimate, not a number Circle disclosed.

It also comes during a leadership change in finance. In September, Circle announced that Fox-Geen will step down as CFO, staying through the end of December 2026 unless a successor is appointed sooner.

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The Bull Case Circle Wants You to See

To be fair, not every number was weak:

• USDC’s share of stablecoin transaction volume rose to 79% from 66%, and on-chain volume grew 49% to $13.9T, per American Banker and 24/7 Wall St.
• Circle’s release says Binance announced a $100M equity investment in the company.
• Circle signed a deal to acquire payments firm Tazapay, expected to close in 2027.
• CEO Jeremy Allaire is betting on regulation: “We are approaching an extraordinary inflection point… In January, the GENIUS Act goes into effect.”

So USDC is being used more than ever. Circle’s problem is that it earns on how much USDC is held, not how much is moved, and that number was flat for a year while it shares more of the yield with distribution partners.

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Why This Matters for Crypto Jobs

1. “Revenue up, headcount down” is the new normal. The most established company in stablecoins posted 17% growth and still cut 5%. If Circle is managing costs this closely, expect the rest of the industry to do the same. Roles tied to growth that can be measured (payments integrations, enterprise sales, partner engineering) are safer than general overhead.

2. Token launches are now a corporate finance tool, and that takes specialists. A public company recognizing nine figures from a token presale, with milestone-based recognition and possible repayment, is a job for revenue accountants, securities lawyers and token-economics people who can work at public-company audit standards. That expertise is rare, and it’s in demand.

3. Arc has to hit its milestones. The proof-of-stake move is now tied to real revenue and possible repayment. That means validator, staking-infrastructure, consensus and protocol security engineers working on Arc are on the hook for actual earnings. If you build L1 infrastructure, this is one of the better-funded chains with a hard deadline.

4. GENIUS takes effect in January. Circle’s bet is that regulated stablecoins win once the law is in force. Compliance, treasury operations and bank partnership roles at issuers, and at banks launching their own stablecoins, should keep hiring regardless of what happens to Circle’s interest income.

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The Bottom Line

The 17% figure is accurate. It just isn’t driven by USDC. Circle’s core business, earning yield on reserves, shrank 8% while USDC supply went nowhere for a year. The gap was covered by selling a token for a blockchain Circle runs itself, under terms its own filings say could mean repayment if the launch slips.

That isn’t a collapse. Net income is up and USDC is moving more volume than ever. But a company that markets itself as boring, regulated money had its quarter saved by a token sale, and it’s cutting staff at the same time.

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Getting caught in a 5% “realignment,” or want to be on the side that’s hiring? Stablecoin issuers, payments companies and L1 teams are still hiring engineers, compliance specialists and finance people who understand tokens. Browse open roles on Cryptogrind →