analysis

Circle defends USDC economics as Open USD courts its partners

0Importance
closedStatus
3News media
3Pieces
Published
In
Stablecoins
Also mentions
OUSD

Circle published a blog post on Friday, October 16 explaining how it shares USDC revenue with partners, and the post was written by its chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi. A separate report said Circle kept about 7 cents of profit per revenue dollar in the first half of 2026, after $819 million of $1.4 billion went to distribution and transaction costs. The same report said Coinbase, Circle’s largest USDC partner, also backs Open USD, which passes reserve income to partners after a management fee.

Share on X Share on Telegram Share on Reddit Share on WhatsApp

Key claims & sources

✓
Circle published a blog post on Friday, October 16 explaining how it splits USDC revenue with partners, and the post was written by its chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi.
Circle defends USDC economics as Open USD courts its partners
✓
The post did not name a competitor, even though it was read as a response to Open USD after the rival stablecoin was integrated across Stripe’s stablecoin stack.
Circle defends USDC economics as Open USD courts its partners
✓
Circle said it kept about 7 cents of profit per revenue dollar in the first half of 2026, after $819 million of $1.4 billion went to distribution and transaction costs.
Circle defends USDC economics as stablecoin rivals court its partners with…
✓
Coinbase, Circle’s largest USDC partner, also backs Open USD, which passes reserve income to partners after a management fee.
Circle defends USDC economics as stablecoin rivals court its partners with…

What it means

Partners and users who follow the stablecoin business can see that Circle is publicly describing how USDC revenue is split, while a rival network is also being positioned with partner revenue sharing. That makes the partner economics around stablecoins more visible today, especially for firms deciding which network to support.

What changes in practice is the way the economics are being presented: Circle has laid out its USDC revenue split in public, while Open USD is described as passing reserve income to partners after a management fee. What stays the same is that both networks still depend on partner relationships, and Coinbase remains Circle’s largest USDC partner while also backing Open USD.

Market reaction i

USDCUSDC the event is about this asset
first headline
0.0% 2 h before
0.0% 4 h after
$0.9998price at publication
12data points

The move was larger before the first headline than after. That is an observation, not an explanation: the market also moves on things nobody publishes.

Coverage timeline

Every piece in order, with the time its news medium declares — if it is not believable we use ours and say so — and what it added to what was already known at that point. Arriving first is not the same as adding something.

first
Oct 16 18:55
CR Cryptopolitan scoop
Breaks the event: $1.4B
+1 d 6 h
Oct 18 01:06
CoinDesk echo
No new facts: distribution, redemptions, stablecoins; with quotes
+1 d 17 h
Oct 18 12:46
Crypto Briefing context
Its angle: infrastructure, maintaining, highlights

Where this sits in the USDC series

WhenWhat happenedFigure
5 days ago USDC at $1.00 high today it sits 0.0% from there
8 days ago USDC at $0.9987 low today it sits +0.1% from there

From what we have stored, starting 43 days ago.