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Teardown: Circle's May 2026 USDC examination report

Circle's May 2026 USDC examination report, issued 2026-06-29, states 75,961,621,872 dollars of total reserve assets against 75,885,403,148 USDC in circulation as of 2026-05-29 — a coverage ratio of 1.001004 at the document's stated scope. This teardown walks the composition, month-over-month deltas, and disclosure metadata; it is not a solvency judgment.

By Aaron Cohen

Circle publishes a monthly examination report for USDC; this teardown walks the May 2026 document — issued 2026-06-29, reserve figures as of 2026-05-29 — as parsed and hash-anchored on the USDC 2026-05 attestation page. Figures are the document's own, at its stated scope. Nothing here is a judgment of any issuer's solvency.

What stands out in May is that the composition moved more than the headlines did. Reserves and circulation contracted together by about 1.16 billion dollars — near-lockstep, as the steady ratio implies — but inside the reserve, roughly 1.8 billion left overnight repo while direct Treasury holdings grew by about 3.0 billion. A reader who only checks the coverage ratio would call this an uneventful month; the interesting part is a size-adjusted reshuffling of what the reserve actually holds.

The headline figures

FigureAmount (USD)As of
Total USDC reserve assets75,961,621,8722026-05-29
USDC in circulation75,885,403,148 (tokens)2026-05-29
Coverage ratio (stated total over stated circulation)1.0010042026-05-29

The report states two as-of dates (2026-05-05 and 2026-05-29); the composition above is at the later one. Publication lag — issue date minus latest as-of date — is 31 days, measured from the document's own dates.

Composition: where the reserve sits

Category (document's own labels, abridged)Amount (USD)
U.S. Treasury repurchase agreements45,171,000,000
Total U.S. Treasury securities22,061,994,431
Cash held at regulated financial institutions10,794,851,072
Cash held in Circle Reserve Fund1,003,103,452
Timing and settlement differences, net (two lines)−446,782 and −3,068,880,301

Beyond the category rows, the document itemizes 30 individual positions with instrument identifiers — 46 parsed rows in total, cross-footed before anything landed.

Month over month: out of repo, into Treasuries

Against the April 2026 report (as of 2026-04-30):

Line2026-042026-05Delta
Total reserve assets77,123,668,72675,961,621,872−1,162,046,854
USDC in circulation77,047,590,79475,885,403,148−1,162,187,646
Treasury repurchase agreements46,998,000,00045,171,000,000−1,827,000,000
U.S. Treasury securities19,110,672,89422,061,994,431+2,951,321,537

Circulation and reserves both contracted by about 1.16 billion dollars, and within the reserve roughly 1.8 billion rotated out of overnight repo while direct Treasury holdings grew by about 3.0 billion.

The arithmetic above is the parsed document pair and nothing more: repo down about 1.8 billion, direct Treasuries up about 3.0 billion, on a smaller total. Interpretation — market color, clearly separated from that arithmetic: moving out of overnight repo into held Treasury securities trades daily-resetting exposure for locked-in short-dated yield, a modest extension of duration posture. That is the shape a manager chooses when the front end looks more attractive to hold than to roll. The document states no motive, so none is inferred here — the rotation is worth flagging mostly as a thing to watch for continuation, because one month is a data point and two is a posture.

What the document's metadata states — and does not

One housekeeping note: this month's row was re-parsed under an upgraded template, so the attestation page shows a restatement flag — the superseded parse remains on the evidence chain, independently verifiable, with the same captured source hash.

For the June 2026 report, three things are worth watching. First, whether the repo-to-Treasuries rotation continues — a second month would make it a posture rather than a data point. Second, whether circulation resumes growth after May's 1.16 billion contraction, and whether reserves track it as closely as they did here. Third, on the disclosure side, whether either unmet rubric dimension changes — an accountant name appearing as a text span in the document, or circulation itemized per chain. The score moves only when the documents do, which is exactly how it should be.

Last updated: Timestamps reflect the underlying data — when a figure was captured or a report was published — never when a page was built.

Frequently asked questions

Where do the figures in this teardown come from?

From Circle's published May 2026 USDC examination report, captured and hash-anchored before parsing; every figure renders verbatim at the document's stated scope. The live version of each figure, with its evidence trail, is on the ReserveBeat attestation page for USDC 2026-05.

What does a coverage ratio of 1.001004 mean here?

The document's stated total reserve assets divided by its stated USDC in circulation, both as of 2026-05-29, quantized to six decimal places. It describes what this one document states at one date — it is not a statement about redemptions or issuer solvency on any other day.

Why does the report score 9 of 11 on disclosure?

Two rubric dimensions are unmet in the document itself: no accountant name appears as a text span in the captured PDF, and circulation is stated as one total rather than itemized per chain. Both facts are recorded exactly as found; nothing is inferred from outside the document.