Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, raised $222 million in an ARC token presale for its Arc blockchain. The round was led by a16z Crypto, with BlackRock, ARK Invest and ten other major investors in the syndicate. Circle made the announcement on May 11, alongside its first-quarter 2026 financial results.
What exactly did Circle announce?
Circle sold 740 million ARC tokens for $222 million. The price per token was $0.30, giving Arc a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion. The placement was structured as a private transaction exempt from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933.
The syndicate included Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered Ventures. That list spans institutional players from both traditional finance and crypto.
The agreements were signed on Friday, May 9. Circle paired the announcement with its quarterly earnings report. Strong Q1 numbers added weight to the signal.
What is Arc and how does it work?
Arc is a layer-1 blockchain that Circle first introduced in August 2025. The company describes it as an "Economic OS" for stablecoin finance and tokenized markets. The goal is to make Arc a settlement layer for transactions between banks, funds and other financial institutions using stablecoins.
The network currently runs on PoA with permissioned validators. A shift to PoS is planned, but no timeline has been set.
The ARC token serves five functions in the network:
- Governance: ARC holders vote on protocol changes
- Staking: validators lock ARC as collateral to participate in consensus
- Transaction fees: ARC pays for operations inside Arc
- Rewards for operators and ecosystem developers
- Stability reserve for the network during periods of stress
How are the 10 billion ARC tokens distributed?
Circle set the total ARC supply at a fixed 10 billion tokens.
A 60% ecosystem allocation is standard for blockchain projects looking to attract developers. The 25% Circle holds is more notable: the company controls the network and retains a quarter of the tokens. That is a more centralized model than most public blockchains. During the PoA phase this makes sense, since the network is not yet ready for fully open governance.
What did the Q1 2026 results show?
Circle published its quarterly results alongside the presale announcement. Total revenue and reserve income rose 20% to $694 million. USDC in circulation climbed 28% year over year to $77 billion. On-chain transaction volume jumped 263% to $21.5 trillion.
Net income fell 15% to $55 million. Operating expenses rose 76% to $242 million, driven by stock-based compensation after the NYSE listing and related payroll taxes. Adjusted EBITDA grew 24% to $151 million.
USDC keeps growing. Revenue up while net income falls points to deliberate investment in scale rather than short-term profit.
What does this mean for the stablecoin market?
Circle has been looking for a way to move beyond its role as a stablecoin issuer. Arc gives it the infrastructure to do that. If the blockchain attracts banks and funds for settlement, the company gains transaction revenue on top of USDC reserve income.
Will Arc eventually pull users away from USDC on Ethereum? For now, the strategy reads as expansion rather than replacement. USDC stays the stablecoin, Arc becomes the rails it moves on.
A syndicate from BlackRock to Standard Chartered signals serious intent. For the stablecoin market, 2026 is shaping up as the year when major issuers start building their own infrastructure.
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