Circle, a prominent U.S.-listed stablecoin issuer, has recently struck a revenue sharing deal with Bybit, recognized as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, as per two insiders acquainted with the deal.

Circle already shares half of the earnings from the reserves backing its USDC stablecoin with Coinbase, a long-standing partnership that has greatly aided in the growth of USDC across the market.

While the specifics regarding the Bybit agreement remain unclear, the collaborations with other exchanges are intended to encourage the adoption of USDC by rewarding these platforms with a portion of the interest on Circle’s reserves. In a related pre-IPO filing, Circle disclosed that Binance received an initial payment of $60.25 million from them and continues to earn monthly incentives based on USDC balances held on the exchange.

The competition within the stablecoin sector is intensifying; currently, Circle’s USDC approaches a circulation of approximately $62 billion, while Tether’s USDT dominates the market with around $160 billion in circulation. Emerging projects are influencing the landscape, like the Robinhood-supported Global Dollar, which is designed to drive adoption through built-in revenue sharing among its participants.

An individual involved in cryptocurrency infrastructure stated, “Assume any exchange with a meaningful amount of USDC likely has a deal established with Circle.”

Circle representatives have not commented on the matter, and Bybit chose not to provide a response.