Circle: USDC Now Handles 79% of Stablecoin Transaction Volume

Circle dropped its third-quarter scorecard, and USDC is running the table. The dollar-backed stablecoin accounted for 79% of all stablecoin transaction volume during Q3 2026, according to the company's Q3 highlights. That's up from 66% in the same stretch a year earlier. On-chain USDC volume hit $13.9 trillion, a 49% leap year over year.

The churn got loud. Circle says $208 billion of USDC was issued and redeemed during the quarter, an average of $2.3 billion a day, marking a new high. Average USDC in circulation sat at $73.3 billion, up 18% from a year earlier.

Infrastructure is pulling its weight too. Circle's Arc Mainnet went live in the third quarter, with more than 100 institutions and applications already building on it, and assets on Arc reached $1.5 billion as of Oct. 30, 2026. The Circle Payment Network closed the quarter with an annualized payment volume of $41.3 billion, which is 15.2 times the level of a year earlier based on the last 30 days of activity. CEO Jeremy Allaire said CPN's payment volume has since climbed past $58 billion.

Then there's the robot economy. Circle says USDC has become the leading settlement asset for agentic and automated internet payments, with Allaire noting that over 99% of agent payments on x402 settle in USDC.

The money followed. Circle's total revenue and reserve income landed at $865 million, up 17% year over year, and that figure includes $182 million from ARC token sales. Allaire frames the quarter as a signal that Circle is ready for the next phase of stablecoin adoption, pointing to the GENIUS Act, expected to take effect in January, as the catalyst that pushes regulated digital dollars into the mainstream. Circle also says every layer of its platform is now switched on.