Circle Raises $222M in ARC Presale, Values Arc at $3B

TLDR Circle raised $222 million by selling 740 million ARC tokens in a private placement. The ARC token sale valued the Arc blockchain network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. Circle priced each ARC token at $0.30 under an exemption from the US Securities Act of 1933. The funding round was led by a16z Crypto with participation from major global investors. Circle reported a 20% rise in total revenue and reserve income to $694 million in the first quarter. Circle secured $222 million through a private sale of 740 million ARC tokens at $0.30 each. The deal values the Arc blockchain at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. The New York Stock Exchange-listed USDC issuer disclosed the agreement with its first-quarter fiscal 2026 results. Circle, USDC and Arc Token Sale Details Circle entered token purchase agreements on Friday under a private placement exemption. The company priced each ARC token at $0.30 and confirmed the total raise at $222 million. The round was led by a16z Crypto and included BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Bullish and others. General Catalyst, Haun Ventures and Intercontinental Exchange also joined the consortium. IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered Ventures participated as well. Circle stated that the sale supports its expansion beyond stablecoin issuance into blockchain infrastructure. Circle introduced Arc in August 2025 as a layer-1 blockchain for stablecoin finance. On Monday, the company released a whitepaper outlining ARC as a “native coordination asset.” The document states that ARC will support governance, security and network operations. Circle described Arc as an “Economic OS” built for stablecoin-based finance and tokenized markets. The network uses permissioned validators and plans a shift to proof-of-stake from proof-of-authority. Circle fixed the initial ARC supply at 10 billion tokens. The company allocated about 60% of tokens to ecosystem growth and developer grants. C...