The "Three Kingdoms of Stablecoins": Profit Sharing in the 315 Billion USD Pool

In Q1 2026, the total market cap of stablecoins broke through 315 billion. Behind this data, there are actually three completely different "profit models" at play. As a holder, you need to understand the underlying ledger.
First is the "offshore giant" USDT.
Tether's current profits can even rival Goldman Sachs. Its logic is the simplest and most straightforward: I use your dollars to buy US Treasuries, buy Bitcoin, buy gold, and all the profits go into my pocket, with no interest shared with users. It’s non-compliant, it has a black box, but it has a key—liquidity. As long as all industry trading pairs are linked with USDT, it becomes that "big but too big to fail" shadow central bank. Using its convenience means accepting being exploited for interest.
Next is the "compliance benchmark" USDC.
Circle takes an elite route, and after its IPO in 2025, it has become a compliant white-glove service. USDC’s reserve management is indeed transparent, but its biggest problem is "interest being drained by middlemen." Looking at its revenue-sharing agreement with Coinbase makes this clear—Circle’s main earnings must be paid as protection fees to channel partners. The renewal in August 2026 is a hurdle; if negotiations fail, its profit margin will look very poor.
Finally, there is this disruptor USD1.
Its rise represents a third logic: interest redistribution.
Since regulators don’t allow direct interest payments on stablecoins, I return profits to users through WLFI’s ecosystem subsidies. This is essentially playing "rural encircles the city." Through CEX’s financial activities and various Launchpool supports, it has broken into the TOP 5 within a year. USD1’s core logic isn’t transparency, but "interest bundling." It pulls sovereign funds and exchanges into profit sharing, taking a portion of the profits that were originally swallowed by Tether, and replacing it with its market share.
The current situation is clear: USDT relies on scale, USDC on compliance, USD1 on subsidies.
In this blue ocean with an 80% annual growth rate, who will ultimately win? It depends on who can define the "scenarios." USD1’s current Agentic SDK and RWA exclusive settlement $BTC ‌$ETH