Circle Internet Group cut about 5% of its workforce in the third quarter, a reduction the USDC issuer disclosed in the footnotes of an earnings report that showed revenue rising 17% to $865 million and net income up 5% to $226 million.
The company booked a $9.1 million restructuring charge for the cuts, which it described as “designed to better align our organizational structure with our operating model and strategic priorities.” The charge covered notice-period pay, severance and benefits.
Circle did not say how many employees were affected or which teams were hit, and the layoffs did not appear in the release’s list of business highlights.
CRCL shares slipped about 1.2% in premarket trading to $74.33 after gaining 4.4% on Tuesday. The stock trades at a fraction of the highs it reached after its June 2025 IPO.
A token sale carried the quarter
The headline growth masks a softer core. Reserve income, the interest Circle earns on the Treasuries and cash backing USDC, fell 8% from a year earlier to $658 million as the reserve return rate dropped 61 basis points to 3.5%.
Average USDC in circulation grew 8% to $73.3 billion, not enough to offset lower yields, and circulation at quarter-end was flat year over year at $73.9 billion. Circle’s share of the fiat-backed stablecoin market slipped to 27%.
What filled the gap was a one-time item. Other revenue jumped to $207 million from $29 million, with $182 million of that from the private presale of ARC, the token for Circle’s new Arc blockchain. Strip that out and total revenue would have declined. Adjusted EBITDA of $317 million, up 85%, carries the same presale.
The cost side tells the rest. Operating expenses rose 16% to $245 million on higher general and administrative, depreciation, IT and marketing spending, while distribution costs, the fees Circle pays partners such as Coinbase to hold USDC, fell 8% to $409 million. The workforce cut lands as the company builds Arc, integrates a January asset acquisition and prepares to absorb Tazapay.
Circle is spending on the next business
Circle is paying for growth outside its core product. Arc’s public mainnet launched Sept. 16 with more than 100 institutional builders, and Circle minted the full 10 billion ARC supply, becoming the first public company to issue a network token for its own layer-one chain.
It agreed to buy Tazapay, a Singapore cross-border payments platform with more than $25 billion in annualized volume, in a deal expected to close in 2027.
Binance, days before its $6.34 billion hack, put $100 million into Circle equity and renewed a USDC distribution partnership.
The GENIUS Act takes effect Jan. 18, bringing federal licensing and reserve rules for stablecoin issuers, a regime the Federal Reserve has begun to fill in. Circle has said its stablecoins will qualify. Whether a smaller headcount and a one-time token windfall can bridge the gap until rates stop falling is the question the quarter leaves open.
