Circle Internet’s Quarterly Profit Surges on Stablecoin Demand
World’s second-biggest stablecoin grew in late 2025, defying a crash in bitcoin and other digital assets
- Circle Internet Group’s fourth-quarter profit jumped to $133.4 million, driven by its stablecoin amid a crypto downturn.
- The company’s USDC stablecoin ended 2025 with $75.3 billion in circulation, a 72% increase from a year ago.
- Circle benefits from the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance but faces a stalled Clarity Act over stablecoin rewards.
Circle Internet Group CRCL 29.72%increase; green up pointing triangle said its fourth-quarter profit jumped after crypto investors continued to flock to its stablecoin despite the late 2025 meltdown in digital-asset prices.
The company’s shares jumped 20% in midmorning trading.
Circle, the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, reported a net income from continuing operations of $133.4 million, or 43 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. The company earned $4.4 million in the year-earlier period, according to a regulatory filing. Total revenue surged 77% to $770 million. Wall Street analysts expected the company to earn 16 cents a share on revenue of $747 million.
Circle had a blockbuster stock-market debut in June last year, with shares surging far above its initial offering price. The shares have since tanked nearly 80% from their peak amid a crypto downturn that pummeled token prices and dampened investor sentiment.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies typically pegged to the U.S. dollar and have a fixed value of $1. They are considered a critical foundation of the crypto ecosystem, enabling people to quickly trade in and out of positions and move money across borders.
On Wednesday, Circle said its flagship stablecoin, USDC, ended 2025 with $75.3 billion in circulation, up 72% from a year ago.
“Circle typically benefits when you see increased volatility in the market because people liquidate their tokens and then they go into USDC,” Citigroup analyst Peter Christiansen said.
The company has also profited from the pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration, which enacted the stablecoin bill known as the Genius Act into law last year. Circle now sits at the heart of a fight between crypto firms and the banking lobby that has stalled the Clarity Act, a measure that would provide the first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. The impasse centers on stablecoin rewards, yield-bearing token products that banks claim are unregulated deposits that threaten traditional savings accounts.
Circle Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” the legislation would pass in April or May. “My view is it’s a critical and necessary piece of legislation to fulfill the president’s goal of making the United States the crypto capital of the world,” he said.
For the full year, Circle reported a loss of $70 million on revenue of $2.7 billion. The loss was mainly driven by expenses for stock-based compensation unlocked by its initial public offering.
Circle generates interest income on short-term Treasurys and other cash-equivalents that back its USDC stablecoin, leaving it vulnerable to the volatility of interest rates.
To make its business less reliant on interest income, the company launched a payments network and its own blockchain, called Arc. It is also spending a lot of time on artificial intelligence, including helping developers who are building AI agents and building systems to better support agentic payments, Allaire said on Wednesday’s earnings call.
Circle paid $461 million in distribution and transaction costs to partners such as Coinbase Global and Binance to facilitate USDC’s use and adoption. The figure rose 52% from a year ago as Circle expanded its strategic partnerships with other companies.
Analysts and investors have noted that competition is likely to intensify in the stablecoin sector as traditional players enter the market. Tether’s stablecoin, the world’s biggest, boasts a $184 billion market value that is more than double USDC’s. Smaller rivals, including USD1, the $4.7 billion stablecoin launched by the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial, have also emerged.
Allaire said he is confident about Circle’s position.
“Importantly, it’s a market that, despite the efforts of many other firms to enter and compete, is really a market of two major issuers,” he said. “And this reflects the very durable network effects that we maintain that are significant barriers to entry and adoption.”