--- title: "Circle keeps 7 cents per dollar of revenue, and its CFO just sold $1.35 million of stock at $90" description: "Circle's departing CFO exercised 15,000 options at $10.11 and sold at $90 days before a November 4 report where 95% of revenue rides on a reserve return that fell 66 basis points last quarter. The successor is unnamed and the margin he leaves is 7 cents per dollar." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Economy" published: 2026-10-26T15:24:00.260Z modified: 2026-10-26T15:24:00.260Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/circle-keeps-7-cents-per-dollar-of-revenue-and-its-cfo-just-sold-1-35-million-of-stock-at-90 language: en keywords: "Circle, Stablecoins, Insider Trades, Crypto, Fintech" --- # Circle keeps 7 cents per dollar of revenue, and its CFO just sold $1.35 million of stock at $90 > Circle's departing CFO exercised 15,000 options at $10.11 and sold at $90 days before a November 4 report where 95% of revenue rides on a reserve return that fell 66 basis points last quarter. The successor is unnamed and the margin he leaves is 7 cents per dollar. ## The money machine's operator heads for the door Jeremy Fox-Geen built [Circle's](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/circle) finance organization after joining in May 2021, steered the company through a $1.2 billion IPO, and [told it on September 25 that he will leave by December 2026](https://thefinancialtechnologyreport.com/circle-begins-cfo-search-as-jeremy-fox-geen-plans-departure-after-five-years/) while an executive search firm hunts his successor [2]. This week his exit hit the tape. [A Form 4 filed October 23](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1876042/000187604226000291/0001876042-26-000291-index.htm) shows Circle's chief financial officer exercised 15,000 options at a $10.11 strike on October 21 and sold the same shares at $90 the same day, about $1.35 million, under a pre-set 10b5-1 trading plan [1]. The plan matters: it was scheduled in advance, but it is still the man who ran the P&L cashing out nine times his strike while his successor is unnamed and his exit weeks away [1][2]. ## What the company keeps per dollar The P&L he leaves behind is thinner than the headline suggests. First-half 2026 revenue ran about $1.4 billion, and about $819 million of it, 59%, went straight to USDC distribution partners and transaction costs; another roughly $473 million, 34%, paid for licenses, banking, compliance, liquidity and product [4]. That leaves about 7 cents of profit per dollar of revenue [4]. Circle's chief commercial officer, Kash Razzaghi, frames it as the cost of monetary infrastructure: 55-plus licenses, 25-plus banking relationships, USDC on 35-plus blockchains, and pre-positioned cash so redemptions clear around the clock [4]. *Chart: **Circle keeps 7 cents of every revenue dollar** Stacked bar showing how each dollar of Circle's first-half 2026 revenue splits: 59 cents to distribution partners and transaction costs, 34 cents to operating costs, 7 cents kept as profit.* *Share of Circle's H1 2026 revenue of about $1.4B, as disclosed by chief commercial officer Kash Razzaghi. Source: news.bitcoin.com, October 20, 2026. [4]* ## The rate line is the whole story Ninety-five percent of the business is one number. In Circle's second quarter, reserve income was $668 million of $701 million in total revenue. Those figures come from [Circle's August 5 results as reported by TIKR](https://www.tikr.com/blog/circle-internet-group-has-lost-34-in-a-year-needham-sees-48-upside): reserve income grew just 5% while average USDC in circulation grew 25%, because the return on Circle's reserves fell 66 basis points to 3.5% in that quarter [3]. USDC ended the quarter at $73.3 billion, below its $76.5 billion average for the period [3]. Consensus expects normalized EPS to drop from $2.35 in 2025 to $1.14 this year [3]. *Chart: **USDC grew 25%, the money it earns grew 5%** Column chart comparing Q2 2026 year-over-year figures: average USDC in circulation up 25%, reserve income up 5%, and the reserve return at 3.5%.* *Year-over-year growth and the reserve return for Q2 2026, from Circle's August 5 results as reported by TIKR. Sources: TIKR, October 21, 2026. [3]* ## The bulls have receipts too The counter-case is real. Needham lifted its target to $134 on October 21, 48% above the prior close; [Binance](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/binance) bought $100 million of Circle stock at $80.84 on September 22 with a two-year lockup and renewed its commercial deal for five years [3]. Management doubled its 2026 other-revenue guidance to $310 million to $330 million, boosted by Arc token presale revenue [3]. Needham's own analyst math flags the stretch, as Needham itself reports it: its $134 target works out to a 107x forward P/E, well above the stock's one-year average of 76x [3]. The retail tape is louder than the arithmetic: "If you don't like $CRCL at $91.33, you are really going to dislike it at $125," one [Stocktwits](https://stocktwits.com/OMillionaires/message/667032870) account posted [6]. The stock [closed October 23 at $85.91](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/CRCL/latest-news/), down 34% from its peak a year ago [3][5]. ## What to watch on November 4 Circle reports third-quarter results on November 4, and that print decides the near-term case: whether reserve income growth can keep pace with USDC growth while the reserve return holds near 3.5%, instead of sliding again [3]. Same day, watch two countable things: who the successor CFO is, and the departing CFO's remaining position, 302,930 shares plus 1,070,606 options at the $10.11 strike expiring May 2031, which keeps printing plan-based supply into a thin-margin quarter [1][2]. ## Takeaway The departing CFO sold at $90 days before a November 4 print that decides whether a 7-cent margin and a falling reserve return can hold. ## Sources 1. [SEC EDGAR, Form 4, Circle Internet Group (Fox-Geen), filed 23 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1876042/000187604226000291/0001876042-26-000291-index.htm) 2. [The Financial Technology Report, Circle Begins CFO Search as Jeremy Fox-Geen Plans Departure After Five Years, 26 October 2026](https://thefinancialtechnologyreport.com/circle-begins-cfo-search-as-jeremy-fox-geen-plans-departure-after-five-years/) 3. [TIKR, Circle Internet Group Has Lost 34% in a Year: Needham Sees 48% Upside, 21 October 2026](https://www.tikr.com/blog/circle-internet-group-has-lost-34-in-a-year-needham-sees-48-upside) 4. [News.bitcoin.com, Circle Makes $1.4B in Revenue but Keeps Just 7% as Profit, 20 October 2026](https://news.bitcoin.com/stablecoins/circle-makes-1-4b-in-revenue-but-keeps-just-7-as-profit/) 5. [Yahoo Finance UK, Circle Internet Group (CRCL) quote page, 26 October 2026](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/CRCL/latest-news/) 6. [Stocktwits, @OMillionaires on $CRCL, 22 October 2026](https://stocktwits.com/OMillionaires/message/667032870) --- Circle keeps 7 cents per dollar of revenue, and its CFO just sold $1.35 million of stock at $90 — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/circle-keeps-7-cents-per-dollar-of-revenue-and-its-cfo-just-sold-1-35-million-of-stock-at-90