Breaking: USDC Issuer Circle Reveals $865M Q3 Revenue, But Lays Off 5% Staff

Circle Internet Group LLC (NYSE:CRCL), the company that issues the USDC stablecoin, released 17% year-over-year revenue and reserve income of $865 million during the third quarter. But the company also announced a workforce restructuring that would impact some of its workers by 5%. The cuts have been restated as restructuring charges in its earnings release on Wednesday.

Circle Records Strong Revenue & Increased USDC Activity

However, the $865 million figure is revenue and reserve income, not net profit. Reported net income from continuing operations was $226 million, an increase of 5% from the prior year. Meanwhile, Circle reported that its adjusted EBITDA rose 85% to $317 million.

The average USDC circulation for Circle rose 8% YoY in Q3 to $73.3 billion. At the end of the first quarter, USDC circulation was $73.9 billion, the same level as a year ago. Meanwhile, Circle is trying to uphold safety standards in the crypto industry as it freezed millions in USDC after Binance suffered a $6.3 billion hack.

Transaction volume of onchain USDC increased by 49% YOY to $13.9 trillion. The company created and redeemed a total of $104 billion in USDC. It accounted for 27% of the stablecoin market share, a decrease of 183 basis points from the previous year.

Reserves declined by 8% to $658 million. Circle blamed the reduction primarily on a decline in its reserve return rate of “61 basis points.” This increase in the average circulation of USDC was partially offset by an increase in the number of pages in the supplement.

Other revenue jumped 627% to $207 million. This boost came from the token presale of the ARC, where $182 million was raised. Revenue minus distribution costs increased by 55% to $453 million.

Workforce Reduction Affects 5% of Staff

The workforce cut was intended to streamline its organizational structure to match its operating model and strategic priorities, Circle said. It laid off 5% of its staff, which could be the reason the CRCL stock is dropping today despite the robust earnings.

The restructuring costs consisted mainly of the cost of terminating employment including notice payments, severance payments and employee benefits and related costs. It revealed restructuring costs of $9.145 million in the quarter.

Circle also made strides in payments and blockchain. The annualized total payment volume of its Circle Payments Network grew to $41.3 billion. The company has released its public mainnet, Arc, on September 16. Moreover, over 100 institutional and ecosystem builders have joined the network from the start.

Circle also entered into a definitive agreement to acquire payments platform from Singapore, Tazapay. If all goes as planned, the transaction will close in 2027, contingent upon regulatory approval.