Circle Internet Group Q2 2026 earnings: results miss estimates, but USDC and new Arc network drive raised outlook
Circle's Q2 revenue and profit fell short of Wall Street estimates, but its USDC stablecoin kept growing and the company sharply raised its outlook for new businesses like the Arc blockchain.
| Q2 2026 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $0.18 | $0.22 | -16.7% |
| Revenue | $701.3M | $738.4M | -5.0% |
Key takeaways
- Both profit and revenue came in below what Wall Street analysts had expected for the quarter, even though revenue was still up about 7% from a year earlier — mainly because Circle’s core business of holding reserves against its USDC stablecoin grew more slowly than hoped.
- The amount of USDC in circulation (essentially, how many digital dollars Circle has issued) grew 19% year-over-year to $73.3 billion, with average daily circulation hitting a record $76.5 billion — a sign of steady demand for Circle’s core product even as the broader crypto market slumped roughly 40%.
- USDC’s share of the overall stablecoin market slipped slightly to 27%, but the coin’s share of actual stablecoin trading activity jumped to nearly 70% in June from 36% a year earlier — a mixed signal: more coins exist from competitors, but USDC is being used more.
- Trailing-twelve-month profitability looks weak on paper (operating margin -5%, net profit margin -2.8%), but that mostly reflects a one-time, oversized stock-based pay charge tied to last year’s IPO rather than the business losing money on an ongoing basis — the underlying gross margin, what’s left after paying for the reserves backing USDC, stayed healthy at nearly 40%.
- A cash-focused profitability measure the company highlights, adjusted EBITDA, rose 8% year-over-year to $143 million, suggesting day-to-day operating performance held up even though the headline per-share profit missed estimates.
- Circle nearly doubled its full-year forecast for revenue from businesses outside USDC, to $310-330 million, largely because of a $242 million token presale tied to Arc, a new blockchain network it’s building for stablecoin-based finance.
- Arc is set to go live on September 16 with an initial group of validators — the institutions that help run the network — that includes BlackRock, the clearing house DTCC, Visa and Mastercard, giving the launch unusually high-profile early backing.
- CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle also received a federal trust bank charter during the quarter and that large institutional partners such as BlackRock, BNY and Standard Chartered are “expanding” their use of USDC rather than just testing it, framing Arc as a growth opportunity potentially as large as USDC itself.
Q2 2026 in context
| Metric | Jun 2026 | Jun 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $701M | $658M | +6.6% |
| Net income | $48M | -$482M | +110.0% |
| Free cash flow | $516M | $246M | +110.3% |
| Diluted EPS | $0.18 | -$4.48 | +104.0% |
| Operating margin | 4.9% | -49.5% | +54.4 pts |
| Net margin | 6.9% | -73.3% | +80.1 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Jun 2026 and the quarter ended Jun 2025, as reported to the SEC.
How the stock took it
Circle Internet Group Inc closed at $63.25 on Aug 4, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $63.28 on Aug 6, 2026, the first session after it — +0.1% across the report.
| Earlier report | Close before | Close after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 2026 | $113.67 | $123.65 | +8.8% |
| Nov 12, 2025 | $98.30 | $82.34 | -16.2% |
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 39.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | -5.0% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | -2.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | -4.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | -$2.91 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 51.5% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -28.8% | Latest quarter |
| Return on equity | -2.6% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: StockTitan / Investing News Network · Circle press release · Coinotag · company fundamentals data · Yahoo Finance · Seeking Alpha / BigGo Finance · BigGo Finance