Circle raises $222M for Arc token at $3B FDV

Circle Internet Group said on May 11 that it raised $222 million in a presale of ARC, the native token tied to its Arc blockchain, at a $3 billion fully diluted network valuation. The company disclosed the financing in its first-quarter results and said the money came from a consortium of institutional investors. (circle.com) CNBC reported that a16z crypto led the raise, with BlackRock, Apollo Funds and Intercontinental Exchange among the backers. (cnbc.com) The financing gives Circle a new capital pool tied to a blockchain project it has been developing alongside its USDC stablecoin business. Circle described Arc as a public blockchain built for institutional finance and said the ARC token is designed as a coordination asset for governance, security and network operations. (circle.com) Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s co-founder and chief executive, told CNBC the company was “entering the operating system business” through a distributed model built around the token and the network. ### How large was the sale, and who bought in? Circle said the presale raised $222 million and valued the network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. (circle.com) In its earnings release, the company named a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered Ventures as investors. CNBC reported that a16z crypto led the round with a $75 million investment. The same report said the investor group included roughly a dozen large financial firms and market participants. (circle.com) ### What exactly is ARC supposed to do on the network? Circle said on May 11 that the ARC token whitepaper was published the same day. The company said the token could support governance, security and network operations on Arc. The Arc whitepaper site said ARC is “not launched” and described the token as a coordination mechanism for governance, protocol fee mechanics, platform utility and broader participation over time. (circle.com) Circle has separately described Arc as an open layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin finance. ### When were the token sale terms actually signed? (cnbc.com) A Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Circle entered token purchase agreements on May 8, 2026, with institutional investors led by a16z crypto. The filing said Circle agreed to issue and sell an aggregate 740 million ARC tokens in the presale. (circle.com) The 740 million-token figure provides one of the clearest mechanics disclosed so far around the sale. Based on Circle’s stated $222 million proceeds, the presale price works out to about $0.30 per token, implying the $3 billion fully diluted valuation cited by the company and in media reports. That calculation is derived from the SEC filing and Circle’s disclosed raise amount. (arc.network) ### How does this fit with Circle’s broader business? Circle released the ARC financing details alongside first-quarter 2026 results showing USDC in circulation of $77 billion, up 28% from a year earlier, and USDC onchain transaction volume of $21.5 trillion, up 263%. (d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net) Total revenue and reserve income were $694 million, while net income from continuing operations was $55 million. Jeremy Allaire told CNBC that blockchain infrastructure was becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms. In the same interview, he said Arc was part of Circle’s effort to become “a broader internet platform company.” (d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net) ### What comes next for ARC and Arc? Circle said on May 11 that the ARC whitepaper had been published and that the token had not yet launched. The company had already launched Arc’s public testnet on October 28, 2025, with more than 100 launch and design participants, according to a Circle press release. The next concrete milestones are the network launch steps Circle outlines for Arc and the eventual issuance of the presold tokens under the purchase agreements signed on May 8. (circle.com) Circle’s public materials now point readers to the whitepaper and testnet as the main sources for those next-stage details. (d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net) (arc.network) (cnbc.com)