Circle Q2 Revenue Narrowly Misses Wall Street Estimates

Stablecoin issuer Circle reported $701 million in revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 on Wednesday, narrowly missing preliminary Wall Street estimates.

Circle reported $701 million in total revenue and reserve income, up 7% year-over-year, according to its announcement. It also reported net income from continuing operations of $48 million, marking a $530 million year-on-year increase.

Circle also reported $668 million in reserve income, which increased 5% year-on-year, primarily due to a 25% increase in average USDC (USDC) circulation.

The earnings results narrowly missed the average consensus of $713.32 million, according to Wall Street analyst estimates compiled by Yahoo Finance. Circle’s shares rose 5.7% in pre-market trading on Wednesday to change hands above $66.50, but remain down 20% year-to-date, according to Yahoo Finance data.

The earnings report comes weeks ahead of the public mainnet launch of Circle’s Arc blockchain, scheduled for Sept. 16. Ahead of the debut, the blockchain has more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders, the company said.

Circle also revealed the founding validator cohort for Arc, which includes BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa, according to a separate announcement on Wednesday. 

Management hiked its guidance for several key metrics, including other revenue for the current fiscal year. That was increased to a range of $310 million to $330 million, from the previous $150 million to $170 million, and includes Arc token presale revenue.

Circle’s earnings miss came during a stablecoin market slump, which saw the total stablecoin supply fall to $153 billion on June 30 from $156 billion on April 1, according to data provider CryptoQuant.

Circle issues the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, which has a $72 billion circulating supply. Tether’s USDt (USDT) ranks first with $183 billion in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.

“USDC remains the dominant stablecoin for on-chain settlement, even as supply growth has stalled,” a spokesperson for institutional technology provider Talos told Cointelegraph, adding that USDC drove 72% of the $15.6 trillion in adjusted onchain transfer volume, moving about eight times more transfer volume per dollar of supply than USDT.

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