Circle raises $222 million for Arc, strengthening its ambition to bring USDC into institutional financial infrastructure

📌 Circle has completed a presale of 740 million ARC tokens at $0.30 each, raising $222 million and valuing the Arc blockchain at around $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. This is one of the most notable signals for stablecoins, RWA, and crypto infrastructure in 2026.
💡 The key point is not only the size of the raise, but also the group of investors involved. a16z crypto led the round, with participation from major names such as BlackRock, Apollo, ICE, ARK Invest, Bullish, and Standard Chartered Ventures, showing that institutional capital is moving deeper into blockchain infrastructure.
🔎 Arc is being positioned by Circle as a Layer-1 network for institutional finance, with USDC used for settlement and network fees. If executed successfully, Circle could expand from a stablecoin issuer into a full infrastructure platform for payments, tokenized assets, and on-chain financial applications.
📈 The news also came alongside Circle’s positive Q1 report, with revenue reaching $694 million, up 20% year over year, while USDC circulation stood at around $77 billion. CRCL shares rose nearly 16% on May 11, reflecting market expectations around this new growth story.
⚠️ Still, Arc has not yet gone live on mainnet and ARC is not publicly traded, so execution remains the key factor to watch. The long lock-up period and refund mechanism if mainnet is delayed show that investors are pricing in implementation risk, not only the growth narrative.
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