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USDC Is Growing—But How Much of the Revenue Does Circle Actually Keep?

Ahead of Circle's Q3 earnings report on November 4, this article revisits the company's Q2 results: revenue plus reserve income totaled $701.3 million, while distribution, transaction, and other costs reached $412.5 million—nearly 59% of the total—leaving $288.8 million in retained revenue before operating expenses, a retention rate of 41.2%. Coinbase-related distribution costs alone accounted for $324.6 million. Average USDC circulation grew about 25% year over year, reserve income rose 5.3%, and retained revenue climbed roughly 15%. The piece also notes that USDC supply has recently declined as redemptions outpaced issuances, and examines how interest rate changes affect reserve income.

USDCCircleUSDC

2 hours ago

Coinbase Q3 Profit Hits $719M as Prediction Markets Surpass $200M

Coinbase reported Q3 revenue down 35% year-over-year to $1.22 billion, but net income rebounded to $719 million, including $715 million in unrealized gains from crypto investments. Its prediction markets business topped $200 million in annualized revenue, with daily traders up over 60% quarter-over-quarter. Crypto trading market share rose to 10.7%, marking a fourth consecutive quarterly gain. Average USDC holdings reached a record $22 billion, and Coinbase One paid subscriptions grew 24% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $333 million, up 60% quarter-over-quarter but down 58% year-over-year.

USDCCoinbaseUSDC

2026-10-30

Why U-Card/VCC Virtual Card Platforms May Face Illegal Business Operation Charges: Five Criminal Risk Points Along the Business Chain

Written by Shao Shiwei's legal team, this article breaks down five criminal risk points along the business chain that may expose U-Card/VCC virtual credit card platforms in mainland China to charges of illegal business operation: accepting USDT top-ups raises virtual currency exchange and source-of-funds issues; managing user balances may constitute licensed stored-value account operations; offshore licenses cannot substitute for domestic market access when serving mainland Chinese users; supporting WeChat Pay and Alipay transactions does not automatically shield platforms from liability even when licensed institutions handle settlement; and setting exchange rates independently to profit from spreads may constitute illegal foreign exchange trading. The article stresses that offshore registration and licensed partnerships do not automatically preclude criminal liability, though regulatory violations alone do not equal criminal offenses—each case must be assessed based on the specific business model.

USDTVCC Virtual Credit CardUSDT ExchangeIllegal Business Operation+5

2026-10-30

Visa Sees 10x Stablecoin Settlement Growth, Expands to Over 225 Card Programs

On its Q4 earnings call, Visa revealed that its annualized stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed $25 billion, up roughly 10x year-over-year. The company now supports five stablecoins—USDC, USDG, EURC, PYUSD, and SBC—across 10 blockchains and all five international regions. Its stablecoin-linked crypto card programs exceed 225, covering about 5 million cards in over 50 countries, with transaction volume up more than 150% year-over-year. Visa Direct has also launched a commercial USDC pre-funding service, with Inyo Global as its first partner.

USDCVisaUSDC

2026-10-29

Stripe Launches Free Instant B2B Payments via Business Handles

Stripe has introduced the Stripe Pay plugin, enabling businesses to make free instant B2B transfers through Stripe business account handles, with support for both Dashboard and command-line operations, plus an authentication flow designed for software agents. The service is separate from but part of Stripe's broader financial infrastructure push, which includes stablecoins, digital wallets, and AI-agent payment products. The article also notes Ripple's partnership with Stripe-owned Privy to bring XRP payments into apps, and the growing share of Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure in business payments and settlements.

USDCPayment InfrastructureAI agent paymentsdigital wallet+3

2026-10-28

CoinDCX Loses Another $16M: Why Legacy Wallets Are Becoming a New Risk—and How Exchanges Must Rethink Their Security Perimeter

This article examines how CoinDCX lost roughly $15.99 million in USDT after its automated sweeping service for legacy wallets failed. The wallets involved were part of infrastructure abandoned after a $44 million breach in July 2025, yet the platform continued crediting deposits to old addresses. With sweeping down, funds sat stranded and were moved out by attackers. The piece argues that exchange security must shift from protecting individual wallets to governing the full lifecycle—address retirement, anomalous deposit monitoring, automated sweeping, and public disclosure—and it discusses how on-chain data tests institutional responses, while tracing funds is not the same as recovering them.

USDTCoinDCXExchange Security GovernanceAutomated Sweeping Failure+4

2026-10-28

Nine Arrested, Over 200 Million Yuan Involved: Why Does a VCC Virtual Credit Card Platform Face Illegal Business Operation Charges?

Written by a lawyer, this article examines a case announced by Shanghai police involving a VCC virtual credit card platform, in which nine people were arrested and over 200 million yuan was involved. The author explains the VCC business model and analyzes the criminal risks the platform may face in generating foreign currency spending limits from RMB top-ups, including illegal currency exchange (matched trades), engaging in payment settlement without a license, and providing payment convenience for gambling, fraud, and other illicit activities. The article compares the legal risk differences between two operating models and proposes five compliance questions operators should examine, emphasizing that the VCC tool itself is not inherently unlawful—the key issue is whether the platform is actually conducting licensed currency exchange and payment settlement business.

USDTVCC Virtual Credit CardCross-Border Payment SettlementUSDT Intermediary+5

2026-10-28

Circle Deepens Latin America Push with USDC Settlement Pilot in Colombia

Circle has partnered with payment technology firm ACI Worldwide to integrate USDC settlement into existing banking infrastructure in Latin America, starting with a pilot in Colombia built on ACI's Bre-B instant payment system. Using ACI's Connetic orchestration platform, the two companies are demonstrating how stablecoin settlement can run alongside—rather than replace—traditional payment rails. The move extends Circle's expansion across emerging Latin American markets, following earlier USDC access through Mercado Pago. The article notes that banks are shifting from debating whether stablecoins are viable to actually implementing them, with a focus on how they fit into existing treasury operations and settlement workflows.

USDCbanking infrastructurestablecoin settlementCross-border Payments+5

2026-10-27

Vangrid Pays USDC Bounties for Smartphone Scans Used in 3D Models

Vangrid has launched a crowdsourced marketplace settled in USDC, where buyers post bounties asking nearby people to capture real-world locations with smartphones and turn the footage into 3D models for robotics, mapping, and physical AI. Bounties are escrowed in USDC on Base or Arc, with the platform taking a 10% cut—a 50 USDC bounty nets the contributor 40 USDC. AI agents can post capture requests via x402, with default bounties ranging from 50 to 5,000 USDC. Public figures say the bounty board has settled over $675,000.

USDCsmartphone captureUSDC bounty3D modeling+4

2026-10-26

Binance Adds AbbVie and Indonesia ETF to 20x Leveraged Futures Lineup

Binance Futures launched four new USDT-margined perpetual contracts on October 26, tracking the iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF (EIDO), EQT Corporation, STMicroelectronics (STM), and AbbVie (ABBV). The contracts offer 24/7 trading with up to 20x leverage and funding rates settled every eight hours, capped at ±2%. The move lets traders speculate on traditional asset prices without holding the underlying stocks, reflecting growing demand for derivatives tied to conventional financial assets.

USDTTradFi perpetualsleveraged futuresStock Derivatives+2

2026-10-26