Circle Q2 Earnings Beat on Profit as Arc Blockchain Secures Institutional Validator Set

Circle Internet reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 18 cents, ahead of the analyst consensus of 16 cents, even as revenue of $701 million fell short of the $712 million forecast. Net income from continuing operations came in at $48 million against estimates of $43 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose 8% year on year to $143 million. Pre-market shares gained roughly 10% on the result.

USCD circulation reached $73.3 billion at the end of June, a 19% year-on-year increase, though that figure is down from a 2026 peak of close to $80 billion. On-chain transaction volume for the quarter surged 151% to $14.8 trillion, a figure that points to deepening institutional throughput even as the broader crypto market has slowed. Chief executive Jeremy Allaire noted that counterparties such as BlackRock, BNY, and Standard Chartered are no longer at the pilot stage but are actively expanding their USDC usage.

The clearest disclosure in the earnings release concerns Arc, Circle’s layer-1 blockchain scheduled to open its public mainnet on 16 September. More than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders are reported to be developing on the network. The founding validator cohort includes BlackRock, DTCC (Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation), ICE (Intercontinental Exchange), Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, Galaxy, and MoneyGram, among others. BlackRock intends to deploy its BUIDL tokenised US Treasury fund on Arc, while DTCC is building infrastructure to tokenise securities held at its depository.

Circle’s payments arm, the Circle Payments Network, hit $14.7 billion in annualised transaction volume over the trailing 30 days, a 76% increase from the prior quarter, with 175 financial institutions now participating. Separately, the company recently obtained approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, granting it a federal trust bank charter.