Circle raises $222M for Arc at $3B valuation

Circle Internet Group closed a $222 million presale for ARC, the native token of its institutional blockchain Arc, at a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion. The company confirmed the presale on May 11, 2026 alongside its first-quarter results. The investor group was led by Andreessen Horowitz and included BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Intercontinental Exchange, Standard Chartered Ventures, Janus Henderson, Marshall Wace and other financial firms.

Circle said the presale converts institutional pilot participation into capital commitments for Arc. The company describes Arc as a Layer 1 public blockchain intended as an “Economic Operating System” for institutional finance. Core features highlighted by Circle include deterministic transaction finality, predictable fees priced in USDC, and privacy controls designed for regulated workflows. Circle also outlined a long-term plan to transition Arc to a proof-of-stake model, with ARC tokens to support governance, security and network operations.

Arc’s public testnet launched in October 2025 and has had more than 100 institutional participants, including asset managers and technology firms that later joined the presale. Circle said mainnet beta is expected in 2026. The company framed Arc as a way to reduce reliance on third-party blockchains and on distribution partners currently used to move USDC into the market.

Along with the presale, Circle introduced agent platform features intended to support developer and merchant activity in USDC. New tools include Circle CLI, Agent Wallets and an Agent Marketplace. Circle also referenced its existing Nanopayments product in the company announcement.

Circle published the ARC whitepaper with the presale confirmation. The document assigns token roles for governance and security and describes a roadmap toward validators participating under a proof-of-stake model. Circle did not disclose allocation details for individual investors or a full timeline for token distribution.

Market reaction included a roughly 10% rise in Circle shares on the day of the announcement, trading above $108. The presale comes as U.S. stablecoin legislation is under consideration by the Senate Banking Committee; some industry participants have said potential regulation could prompt banks and fintech firms to consider issuing dollar-denominated tokens.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire described the company’s ambition for Arc: “Infrastructure is becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms.” He added, “We want to build an operating system that has many, many stakeholders in it — major companies who are running the infrastructure with us and who ultimately help to govern it.” Circle said it will continue testing the network with institutional partners and plans to proceed toward a mainnet deployment later in 2026.