The company behind the second-best cryptocurrency in its field, USDC, shared its earnings for the first two quarters today. We recently reported on its biggest competitor, Tether, announcing billion-dollar gains. This announcement came after Binance CEO targeted USDT.
USDC News
Circle has already exceeded the projected revenue of $772 million for the whole of 2022 by earning $779 million in the first half of the year. It also made a profit of $219 million during this period. Circle shared its latest earnings announcement amidst the entry of new non-crypto competitors like PayPal Holdings Inc. The circulating supply of Circle’s USD Coin has dropped from $45 billion at the beginning of the year to approximately $26 billion. However, the largest stablecoin, Tether, experienced growth during the same period. Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, stated that this decrease was triggered by the USDC decision made by Binance. It is worth mentioning that approximately one year ago, Binance removed USDC pairings without prior notice. Although Coinbase targeted the exchange through Grayscale assets, CZ was forced to back down.
Circle generates most of its revenue through interest income obtained from assets supporting the stablecoin, such as USD deposits and short-term Treasury bonds. The recent interest rate hikes have contributed to the company’s revenue.
Binance and Stablecoins
Binance CEO has been in the spotlight for his actions regarding stablecoins for the past year. First, he announced the delisting of USDC last year. Then, he targeted Coinbase’s holdings of BTC in exchange for GBTC. When the CEO of Coinbase warned him about the possibility of receiving penalties for targeting a publicly traded company, he took a step back. Back then, CZ stated that he would openly express any suspicious situations he encountered on his Twitter account. However, his silence regarding Justin Sun’s involvement in complex affairs raises doubts.
Is Binance CEO only targeting his competitors? This question was raised by Tether’s CTO after being targeted by CZ. He emphasized the suspicious nature of being targeted after announcing the addition of a new supported stablecoin.
Following the pressure from the US on Binance USD, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange started listing alternative stablecoins on its platform.