TradFi News | Circle Q3 Revenue Climbs 17% to $865 Million on ARC Token Presale as Binance Takes $100 Million Stake

Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) reported third-quarter revenue and reserve income of $865 million, up 17% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA rose 85% to $317 million. Both figures were lifted by $182 million in revenue from the presale of ARC, the native token of Circle’s new Arc blockchain. Net income from continuing operations rose 5% to $226 million.Circle also said Binance has made a $100 million equity investment in the company and renewed and expanded its partnership to promote USDC across Binance’s global platform, with a focus on emerging markets.Token Presale Drives Revenue GrowthOther revenue rose 627% to $207 million, almost all of it from the ARC presale. Excluding the presale, total revenue was about $683 million, down about 8% from a year earlier.Reserve income, Circle’s main revenue source, fell 8% to $658 million. The reserve return rate fell 61 basis points to 3.5%, which more than offset 8% growth in average USDC in circulation, to $73.3 billion.Distribution, transaction and other costs fell 8% to $412 million. That pushed revenue less distribution costs up 55% to $453 million and lifted the margin on that measure to 52%, from 39%. Operating expenses rose 16% to $245 million. The quarter also included restructuring costs from a workforce reduction of about 5%.USDC Circulation Flat, On-Platform Holdings Up 36%USDC in circulation was $73.9 billion at the end of September, unchanged from a year earlier, and its share of the stablecoin market slipped to 27%. USDC held on Circle’s platform rose 36% to $13.9 billion. Circle reported $104 billion in USDC minted and $104 billion redeemed during the quarter. It put onchain USDC transaction volume at $13.9 trillion, up 49%.Arc Mainnet Launch and Tazapay DealCircle launched Arc on public mainnet on September 16 with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders, and completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens. It said it is the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new layer-one blockchain. Arc plans to move to proof of stake in 2027.Circle agreed to buy Tazapay, a Singapore-based cross-border B2B payments platform with more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume. The deal is expected to close in 2027, pending regulatory approval. Annualized payment volume on the Circle Payments Network reached $41.3 billion.Other partnerships announced in the quarter include:Visa moved Visa Direct stablecoin prefunding into commercial deployment.Samsung Wallet enabled USDC transfers to bank accounts in more than 60 countries.Tereina, which is backed by SAP, is integrating USDC and EURC into the SAP ecosystem.Circle became a Principal Partner of Chelsea FC.Full-Year Guidance KeptCircle left its guidance unchanged. It expects USDC circulation to grow 40% a year through the cycle. For 2026, it forecasts other revenue of $310 million to $330 million, an RLDC margin of 41.7% to 43.7%, and adjusted operating expenses of $570 million to $585 million.