USDC issuer Circle cuts about 5% of staff, books $9.1 million restructuring charge

By Khal · · 2 min read

Editorial illustration: Three people work at office desks beside an empty chair, a dark monitor and a cardboard box holding books. A blue Circle emblem and stacked blue coins sit behind the desks.
AI-generated editorial illustration · AI-generated editorial illustration · Published Nov 4, 2026, 1:06 p.m. (1 hour ago)

In brief

  • Circle cut about 5% of staff, per its Q3 earnings release, without disclosing a headcount.
  • Circle booked $9.1 million in restructuring expenses, partly offset by a $5.7 million reversal.
  • Net income from continuing operations rose 5% to $226 million on $865 million in revenue.
  • Reserve income fell 8% to $658 million as rates on USDC reserves declined.

What the release says

Circle disclosed the reduction in footnotes to its financial tables, where it said the move was meant to better align its organizational structure with its operating model and strategic priorities. Most of the $9.1 million went to cash payments (notice periods, severance, employee benefits and related costs). A $5.7 million reversal of stock-based compensation partly offset that, since departing employees forfeited their unvested shares.

CEO Jeremy Allaire didn't mention the cuts in his comments on the results. He didn't mention them in his Wednesday tweet either, which called Q3 "a big quarter for Circle."

The reduction was "designed to better align our organizational structure with our operating model and strategic priorities," the company said in footnotes to its financial tables.

Profit up, reserve income down

On the headline numbers, it's a profitable quarter. Circle reported net income from continuing operations of $226 million, up 5% year over year, on total revenue and reserve income of $865 million (up 17%). Adjusted EBITDA rose 85% to $317 million. Other revenue climbed to $207 million, and $182 million of that came from the presale of ARC, the token for Circle's Arc blockchain.

Reserve income is a different story.

That line, Circle's largest revenue source, fell 8% to $658 million as interest rates on USDC reserves declined. Average USDC in circulation rose 8% to $73.3 billion but ended the quarter flat at $73.9 billion, and Circle said USDC's share of the U.S. dollar stablecoin market slipped to 27%.

Allaire pointed to other metrics. He said USDC carried 79% of all stablecoin transaction volume (up from 66% a year earlier) and that Circle's payments network ended the quarter at $41 billion in annualized volume, up 15-fold. His tweet put USDC minted and redeemed at a record $208 billion, about $2.3 billion every day.

Part of a wider pattern

Circle's the latest in a string of crypto companies to cut staff this year, according to Decrypt, with firms citing weaker markets, artificial intelligence or both. Coinbase cut 14% of its workforce in May. The Ethereum Foundation cut 20% in June as part of a reorganization, and custody firm BitGo cut 15% that same month to focus on AI and stablecoins. Luno cut a fifth of its global staff in July, citing automation, while ETF issuer Bitwise cut 14% in August.

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