Delegation and Revenue Sharing
Delegators stake USDC into a Circle's delegation pool to back its merchants and earn a share of merchant rewards proportional to their delegated stake. Circle Admins separately stake $P2P to create and operate a Circle. Revenue is split in basis points configured per currency. The merchant and the Circle Admin each receive a base share of transaction volume. The merchant's share is then apportioned by the ratio of self-stake to delegated stake, and the delegated-stake portion is further divided between the merchant, the Circle Admin, and the delegation pool by configurable per-currency parameters.
This within-Circle distribution is separate from the protocol-level revenue split. At the protocol level, 20 percent of protocol revenue routes to the treasury and 80 percent to network operators (merchants, Circle Admins, delegators, and insurance). The split described here governs how the operator portion of a single order is shared inside a Circle, and it is set in basis points per currency. The values below are the current spec defaults for the delegated-stake portion, and the live value is shown in-app.
| Recipient | Default share of the delegated-stake portion |
|---|---|
| Merchant | 60 percent |
| USDC delegators | 20 percent |
| Circle Admin Insurance Pool (CAIP) | 10 percent |
| Circle Admin | 10 percent |
Reward distribution to delegators is snapshot-based. The pool tracks rewards per token and pays each delegator in proportion to their share when rewards are notified. Delegators claim accrued rewards in-app and exit through a request and a cooldown.
The full delegation UI and Circle-level reward routing mechanics are planned for a future release.