Circle Internet Group reported $14.8 trillion in USDC on-chain transaction volume for the second quarter of 2026, a 151% year-over-year increase, according to its quarterly earnings disclosure released in early August. Daily on-chain volume averaged $163 billion.

The figure positions USDC as the dominant engine of stablecoin throughput this year. The company estimates roughly $32 trillion in adjusted USDC transfers through August 2026, implying a leading share of total stablecoin transfer volume.

What do the numbers say about supply and revenue?

USDC in circulation stood at $73.3 billion as of June 30, 2026, up 19% from a year earlier. Supply is expanding far more slowly than volume, meaning the same dollar of float is turning over more frequently on-chain.

Circle's financial results for the quarter:

• Total revenue and reserve income of $701.3 million, up 7% year over year
• Net income of $48 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $143 million, an 8% increase
• Reserve interest income of approximately $667.7 million, about 95% of total revenue
• Transaction revenue of only $5.3 million

The revenue mix remains the structural story. Roughly 95% of Circle's income comes from interest on the reserves backing USDC, held mostly in US Treasuries and cash equivalents. Transaction revenue — the money Circle earns directly from the $14.8 trillion of activity on its rails — is a rounding error by comparison.

Yields on the reserve portfolio averaged roughly 3.5%, below prior levels. Larger average circulation offset the lower rate, allowing reserve income to keep growing despite the rate compression. That arithmetic has a hard limit: if rates fall faster than supply expands, reserve income contracts.

Why does the Circle Payments Network matter?

The Circle Payments Network (CPN), the company's institutional cross-border settlement layer, reached an annualized volume of $14.7 billion across 175 participating institutions, growing 76% quarter over quarter. It is the clearest test of whether Circle can convert volume into something other than interest income.

The network's absolute scale remains small — $14.7 billion annualized against $14.8 trillion in quarterly on-chain volume — but the growth trajectory and institutional participation base indicate where the company is directing its operational effort. Every incremental dollar of fee-based revenue reduces the share of earnings hostage to Federal Reserve policy.

How did Circle build this position?

Founded in 2013 to move dollars on-chain, Circle made USDC a core instrument in decentralized finance and institutional payments. Regulatory clearances have reinforced that standing: the company holds approvals tied to Circle National Trust and New York Trust, credentials that matter to traditional financial institutions requiring a chartered issuer before deploying balances.

Those trust charters give Circle a compliance posture distinct from offshore-resident issuers, and they underpin the institutional adoption visible in both the circulation and CPN figures.

What does the revenue concentration mean going forward?

The business consequence is straightforward. Circle runs the second-largest dollar stablecoin at massive throughput, yet monetizes almost none of that activity directly. A 151% surge in volume produced only 7% revenue growth because the earnings engine is float, not fees.

Two variables will determine the next several quarters: the direction of short-term US Treasury yields, which governs the return on roughly $73 billion of reserves, and the pace at which CPN converts settlement volume into transaction revenue at 175 institutions and counting. If the payments network sustains its 76% quarterly growth rate while rates hold near 3.5%, Circle enters 2027 with a more diversified earnings base than the current 95%-reserve-income split suggests.