Circle booked $182 million selling its own token while USDC circulation stayed flat at $73.9 billion
Circle booked $182 million from presales of ARC, its own new network token, while the reserve engine that pays the bills shrank and USDC circulation ended flat. The filing's risk factors even raise repaying presale buyers if launch milestones slip.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
A token presale made the quarter
Circle's+2.23% — Circle's, up 2.23 percent today third quarter printed as a blowout: revenue and reserve income of $865 million, up 17% year over year, and diluted earnings of 84 cents a share against a 38-cent consensus 123. The growth, though, came from a strange place. Other revenue jumped 627% to $207 million, and $182 million of that was revenue recognized from presales of ARC, the token for Circle's own new blockchain 1.
What the presale buyers hold
The presale raised roughly $222 million at a $3 billion valuation 4. In September, Circle minted the full 10 billion token supply, the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a layer-one blockchain 1. What buyers hold is narrow: Arc's transaction fees are payable in USDC rather than ARC, and Circle states the mint is not a commitment to publicly launch the token at all 5. The filing's own risk factors warn of possible repayment obligations to presale participants if key launch milestones are missed 1.
The interest engine ran backward
Reserve income, the interest Circle earns on the Treasuries backing USDC, fell 8% to $658 million as the reserve return rate dropped 61 basis points to 3.5% 1. USDC in circulation ended the quarter flat at $73.9 billion, and stablecoin market share slipped to 27% 1. Optics did the rest: revenue less distribution costs rose 55% to $453 million and adjusted EBITDA climbed 85%, while net income grew 5% and a footnote disclosed a 5% workforce cut costing $9.1 million 16.
Q3 growth came from a token presale, not the reserve engine
Reserve income drifted down all year; the ARC presale supplied the Q3 spike
- Reserve income
- Other revenue
Data
| Reserve income | Other revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | $711M | $29M |
| Q4 2025 | $733M | $37M |
| Q1 2026 | $653M | $42M |
| Q2 2026 | $668M | $34M |
| Q3 2026 | $658M | $207M |
The bulls wrote checks; 2027 grades them
Real money backed the other side. Binance announced a $100 million equity investment and renewed its USDC partnership, and Visa moved stablecoin prefunding into commercial deployment 1. Half of 36 analysts rate the stock a Buy and four a Sell: Mizuho's Dan Dolev targets $43, arguing AI assistants such as Meta's+0.98% — Meta, up 0.98 percent today Muse will steer savers toward insured high-yield accounts, while H.C 2. Wainwright's $104 target treats Arc as the escape from reserve dependency 2.
The tell is October, then 2027
Circle left guidance unchanged: $310 million to $330 million of other revenue for 2026, presale already inside, and a 40% multiyear USDC growth target that a flat quarter does not yet support 1. The Tazapay acquisition and Arc's shift to proof of stake both land in 2027 1. October flows will show whether circulation holds after the $6.3 billion Binance hack, in which Circle helped freeze $2.38 billion 8. Six weeks into mainnet, four wallets hold 73% of the $1 billion of USDC on Arc 9. A presale fires once.
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