How Do Stablecoins Make Money, and What Does It Mean for Your Float?

Your exchange or payment platform keeps a standing stablecoin float across several chains, and the reserves behind every token in it earn money for someone else.

That someone is the issuer.

Stablecoin issuers make money by earning interest on the cash and short-dated government assets that back each token in circulation. Circle's reserve income was about 95% of its total revenue and reserve income in the quarter ended 30 June 2026, and the GENIUS Act provides that, once in force, a permitted issuer may not pay holders interest on those tokens.

How Do Stablecoin Issuers Earn Money on Their Reserves?

Every token has a reserve behind it, and the reserve is invested. Circle's 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 says the company "earns interest and dividends on assets held in reserve accounts, which include cash balances held at banks and investments in the Circle Reserve Fund." Circle's filing puts reserve income at $667.7 million for the three months to 30 June 2026, against $634.3 million a year earlier. USDC in circulation was $73.3 billion at the end of Q2 2026. Other revenue was $33.6 million, so reserve income came to roughly 95% of the $701.3 million total.

Circle's own "reserve return rate" for Q2 2026 was 3.5%, down from 4.1% in Q2 2025. It is reserve income divided by the average daily balance of reserves segregated for holders. That revenue is before costs: distribution and transaction costs were $410.4 million for the same quarter.

Tether reports differently. Tether's Q2 2026 attestation announcement puts net operating profit, "led by U.S. Treasury and repo," at approximately $1.50 billion for the quarter. About $184.6 billion in tokens were issued at the end of Q2, and assets exceeded liabilities by $4.11 billion as of 30 June 2026. The figures come from an attestation prepared by BDO, which is an overview of the backing assets on one date. Tether says a Big Four audit process is still continuing. Tether publishes no separate reserve-income line and no reserve composition.

Although revenue for one issuer and operating profit for the other cannot be compared line by line, they do point at the same source: income from the assets sitting behind the token.

Why Don't Stablecoin Holders Earn Interest From the Issuer?

The GENIUS Act bars issuers from paying holders that interest once the Act is in force. The GENIUS Act, Public Law 119-27, Sec. 4(a)(11), provides that "No permitted payment stablecoin issuer or foreign payment stablecoin issuer shall pay the holder of any payment stablecoin any form of interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other consideration) solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention of such payment stablecoin."

Sec. 4(a)(1)(A) requires issuers to maintain identifiable reserves backing outstanding tokens "on an at least 1 to 1 basis," drawn from items such as U.S. coins and currency, insured-bank demand deposits, and "Treasury bills, notes, or bonds" with a remaining maturity of 93 days or less. The interest prohibition then gives the return on that reserve a single destination. Every token held anywhere has an asset behind it, and the issuer keeps what that asset earns.

The Act was approved on 18 July 2025 and takes effect on the earlier of 18 months after enactment, which is 18 January 2027 at the latest, or 120 days after the primary federal regulators issue final regulations. Until then, the interest prohibition is not yet in force.

For a longer map of how tokens, reserves and issuers fit together, start with our guide to stablecoins. If you are choosing which token to hold, our comparison of USDT, USDC and DAI for payments sets out the differences. Tokens with no reserve behind them work differently, and our explainer on how algorithmic stablecoins work and why they fail covers them. For EU-regulated issuers, see what MiCA means for stablecoin issuers.

What Does an Idle Stablecoin Float Cost a Business?

No primary source publishes a dollar figure for what a given idle float contributes to an issuer's reserve income. The cost can only be argued from mechanism. A token that stays outstanding keeps its reserve in place, and the reserve keeps earning for the issuer.

A hypothetical USD 100 million balance at Circle's disclosed 3.5% Q2 2026 reserve return rate equals USD 3.5 million a year of reserve income for the issuer. The rate fell from 4.1% a year earlier, so the figure moves with interest rates.

Without a rule, a payments team finds its USDC spread across deposit addresses on several chains. Finance asks how much of it is above what tomorrow's payouts need, and the answer takes a spreadsheet, three chain explorers and a guess. The surplus stays where it landed because nobody can size it quickly. With a collection rule in place, the deposit addresses drain into main wallets on a schedule, the payout buffer sits in one place, and the surplus is a single number the treasury lead can act on that morning.

How Do You Hold Only the Float Your Operations Need?

Set the number first, then sweep by rule so the surplus shows up against it. CoinGet's Auto-Collection (Sweeping) consolidates assets from multiple addresses into main wallets based on time, balance or custom rules. You can configure collection addresses in the CoinGet docs.

Consolidated funds can then move on. CoinGet's Cold Storage Transfer Integration routes collected funds to cold storage. Real-time deposit notifications give operational visibility for every incoming transaction. Keys stay with you: CoinsDo never holds your private keys.

Sweeping consolidates the float and makes the surplus visible. Reducing the float means redeeming or moving tokens, a treasury action outside CoinGet. Tokens that remain outstanding keep their reserve in place, so set the balance at your next payout cycle's needs plus a buffer you define. Our analysis of idle crypto capital and treasury ROI goes further on that side. For the product itself, see CoinGet.

FAQ

How do stablecoin issuers make money from reserves?

Issuers hold cash and short-dated Treasury-type assets against every token and keep the interest those assets earn. Circle's 10-Q shows reserve income of $667.7 million in the quarter ended 30 June 2026, about 95% of total revenue and reserve income.

How does Tether make money on its reserves?

Tether reported approximately $1.50 billion of net operating profit for the quarter to 30 June 2026, led by U.S. Treasury and repo. The release gives profit only, so a separate reserve-income figure and reserve composition are not published there.

Do stablecoin holders earn interest from the issuer?

The GENIUS Act provides that a permitted issuer may not pay holders any form of interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining a payment stablecoin. It takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after final regulations.

Why does an idle stablecoin float matter to treasury?

Each token that stays outstanding keeps its reserve earning for the issuer, and the GENIUS Act bars issuers from paying holders interest once it takes effect. No published figure prices this for a given balance, so treasury teams size the float against operating needs.

What does sweeping do to a stablecoin float?

CoinGet's Auto-Collection (Sweeping) consolidates assets from multiple addresses into main wallets based on time, balance or custom rules. That shows the float in a few wallets. Cutting the surplus means redeeming or moving tokens, a treasury action outside CoinGet.

How Much Stablecoin Float Should a Business Keep?

Keep what payouts and settlement need, and redeem or move the rest. The issuer earns the reserve income on every token that stays outstanding, so a business controls how many tokens sit with it and where. Size the operating float from your own payout and settlement schedule, write a time or balance collection rule around that number so the surplus is easy to see, and review it when reserve return rates move. The step-by-step version is in our practical guide to stablecoins for treasury management.