🚨 @circle raising funds $222M for Layer-1 Arc, valuing FDV at $3B

📌 Circle - the company issuing USDC - has just successfully raised $222M through the ARC token presale, the native token of the Layer-1 blockchain Arc.
📌 This round brings Arc's FDV to approximately $3B, making it one of the largest fundraising deals in crypto from 2026 to now. The funding round was led by a16z with $75M, with participation from BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange - NYSE's parent company, SBI Group, Standard Chartered Ventures, ARK Invest, Haun Ventures, and many other major funds.
📌 Arc is a Layer-1 developed by Circle, focusing directly on stablecoins and on-chain finance. This chain is EVM-compatible, uses USDC as gas, integrates FX tools for stablecoins, processes transactions in under 1 second, and offers privacy options for financial institutions.
📌 Regarding tokenomics, ARC has an initial total supply of 10 billion tokens:
🔸 25% belongs to Circle
🔸 60% allocated to developers, builders, and ecosystem users
🔸 15% allocated to a long-term reserve fund
📌 USDC still heavily depends on Ethereum, Solana, and distribution partners like Coinbase. With Arc, Circle aims to build its own stablecoin infrastructure - from issuance, payments, gas, to liquidity...
Perhaps Circle wants to have a native chain for its USDC flow that doesn't depend on other chains. $3B It's not an unreasonable valuation for a company backed by a major stablecoin player, but the Plasma lesson is still there.