Circle Raises $222M in Arc Token Presale at $3B Valuation

In brief

• Circle Internet Group has raised $222 million in a presale for Arc, its new institutional blockchain token.
• The raise values the Arc network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis.
• Andreessen Horowitz led with $75 million; BlackRock and Apollo also participated.

USDC issuer Circle Internet Group has raised $222 million in a token presale for its stablecoin-focused blockchain Arc, achieving a $3 billion fully diluted valuation.

The raise was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with a $75 million investment, with BlackRock and Apollo Funds participating, signaling Wall Street's growing comfort with tokenized capital formation.

Circle also announced the publication of the Arc whitepaper Monday, noting that it outlines “how a native coordination asset could support governance, security, and network operations on Arc.”

The firm has been laying the groundwork for the layer-1 blockchain for some time, with Allaire telling Decrypt in April that the company was “exploring” an Arc network token launch and a potential shift to proof-of-stake consensus. Among its features are a modular privacy system leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), designed to balance compliance with confidentiality.

Circle structured Arc with 10 billion tokens in its initial supply. The company will hold 25% of these tokens, while 60% will be allocated to network participants who build on and use Arc. The remaining 15% will go to a long-term reserve. To accelerate ecosystem development, the blockchain has opened applications for a developer funding program.

Circle posts Q1 results

The firm announced the Arc raise Monday alongside its Q1 results, reporting that circulation of USDC grew by 28% over the quarter to hit $77 billion, which on-chain transaction volume for the stablecoin grew by 263% to hit $21.5 trillion.

CEO Jeremy Allaire told the company is evolving beyond its stablecoin roots. "We're becoming a broader internet platform company," Allaire said, comparing blockchain infrastructure to "mobile operating systems or cloud platforms."