Circle defends USDC economics as Open USD courts its partners
Published
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.
What this rests on
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
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.
How the story was built
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.
Crypto Briefing
context
Has this happened before?
| When | What happened | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| 22 days ago | Open USD takes on Tether, Circle with a different stablecoin model that's 'building money' event | 4 actors in common · 5 news media |
| 8 days ago | EBA Names USDC the EU’s First ‘Significant’ E-Money Token event | 2 actors in common · 11 news media |
| 8 days ago | cirBTC Borrowing on Morpho Tops $190 Million as Arc Liquidity Tightens event | 2 actors in common · 2 news media |
| 12 days ago | Circle minted another 750 million USDC on Solana in the last 24 hours event | 2 actors in common · 2 news media |
| 13 days ago | Circle and Tereina Plan USDC and EURC Payments Through SAP Pay event | 2 actors in common · 2 news media |