Circle says its partnership with Kraken has increased the use of USDC — its dollar-denominated stablecoin — and EURC, its euro-denominated counterpart, across trading, funding, wallet infrastructure and on-chain products, with USDC activity on the exchange rising by more than 30% over the year through September 2026.

The companies’ collaboration, expanded in September 2025, has also supported nearly 1 billion EURC in cumulative trading on Kraken and more than $350 million in USDC deposits into Kraken’s DeFi Earn vaults.

Circle described the results in an October 28, 2026 post on X:

Stablecoins are moving deeper into the products customers already use. Kraken partnered with Circle to expand USDC and EURC utility across funding, trading, wallet infrastructure, and onchain access. The results: → 30% USDC AUC growth on Kraken since its September 2025 partnership with Circle → Nearly 1B EURC traded on Kraken since listing → 350M USDC deposited to Kraken’s DeFi Earn vaults post launch For Kraken, building with USDC and EURC helped reduce fragmentation across core platform flows and give customers more direct access to dollar- and euro-denominated stablecoin utility.

— Circle (@circle) October 28, 2026

The post is available at https://x.com/circle/status/2115474924727095364?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw.

Kraken Expands USDC Beyond Spot Trading

Kraken had established ties with USDC in 2020. Through its expanded partnership with Circle in 2025, the exchange extended the stablecoin across more of its platform infrastructure instead of using it only as a trading pair.

The integration covered funding, earn products, wallet infrastructure and on-chain applications. Circle said the approach was intended to reduce conversion steps and provide users with more direct access to dollar-denominated liquidity.

According to Circle, USDC activity on Kraken increased by more than 30% from September 2025 to September 2026. As of October 26, Circle reported approximately $71 billion worth of USDC in circulation and approximately $71.2 billion in reserves denominated in USDC.

DeFi Earn Attracts More Than $350 Million in USDC

Kraken’s DeFi Earn product has been one of the most visible applications of the partnership. Eligible assets deposited by customers can be converted into USDC, transferred through an embedded wallet and allocated to Veda vaults on Ink, a Kraken-supported Ethereum Layer 2 network built on the Optimism stack, a framework for building networks that settle to Ethereum.

The vaults can connect with third-party lending protocols, including Aave. Independent risk managers oversee liquidity and allocations. In the months following the product’s launch, more than $350 million worth of USDC was deposited into the DeFi Earn vaults.

EURC Trading Nears 1 Billion on Kraken

Kraken added Circle’s euro-denominated stablecoin EURC in September 2025. Under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework — the European Union’s regime for crypto-asset issuance and services, which includes common rules for stablecoins — EURC provides an alternative for euro-denominated trading, account funding and collateral on the platform.

Circle said EURC’s on-chain volume increased from nearly 4 million tokens in October 2025 to more than 75 million tokens by September 2026. Monthly trading volume exceeded 100 million EURC in some periods, while cumulative trading since the listing approached 1 billion EURC.

Stablecoins Become More Embedded in Exchange Infrastructure

The Kraken partnership reflects the broader use of stablecoins — blockchain tokens pegged to fiat currencies such as the dollar and the euro — across exchange infrastructure. Circle said settlement and liquidity infrastructure for USDC and EURC have developed more quickly than comparable systems for the dollars and euros that are traded, settled and issued through traditional financial channels.

Using two stablecoins from one issuer allows Kraken to reduce the need to coordinate among multiple stablecoin issuers across funding, trading and on-chain processes. According to Circle, this has reduced fragmentation and improved access to dollar- and euro-denominated liquidity within the platform’s core flows.

The development is part of the broader expansion of USDC activity in crypto markets. During the first half of 2026, Circle said USDC on-chain transaction volume exceeded $36 trillion, underscoring the growing role of stablecoins in exchange and settlement infrastructure.

For readers tracking how the partnership develops, Circle’s disclosed metrics — USDC circulation and reserves, EURC on-chain volume and DeFi Earn deposits — serve as reference points that future updates from either company can be measured against.