TL;DR:
- Circle raised $222 million in the presale of the ARC token, linked to its new Arc blockchain, which was valued at around $3 billion.
- CEO Jeremy Allaire defined Arc as an operating system for institutional finance, backed by BlackRock, Apollo and a16z, among others.
- In the first quarter, Circle reported revenues of $694 million, 3% below estimates, although EPS of $0.21 beat expectations.
Circle raised $222 million in the presale of the Arc native token, its new blockchain network aimed at institutional finance. The deal values the project at $3 billion and was led by Andreessen Horowitz, which contributed $75 million. Also participating were BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange, ARK Invest, Standard Chartered Ventures, Haun Ventures, General Catalyst and crypto firm Bullish, among others. This round made Circle the first publicly listed company to execute a token presale.
According to the firm’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, this is a strategic expansion that goes beyond USDC issuance. “We are entering the operating systems business and we’re doing it by building this distributed multi-stakeholder model, with a token, with a distributed network,” he said in an exclusive interview with CNBC. Allaire noted that the economy is evolving toward a model operated by software and artificial intelligence agents, and that Arc is designed to support that environment.
A Token With a Structural Role in Circle’s Network
According to the whitepaper, ARC functions as a “native coordination asset” that underpins governance, validator security and network operations. The token’s role resembles that of ETH on Ethereum or SOL on Solana: it is not a stablecoin but an asset that articulates the economic and security model of the chain.
ARC Tokenomics
Circle retains 25% of the initial supply of 10 billion tokens, which will allow it to operate validator infrastructure, generate fee revenue and earn staking yields. 60% of the tokens are allocated to those who build, use or contribute to the network. The remaining 15% will be assigned to a long-term reserve.
First-quarter results were mixed. Circle’s revenues reached $694 million, 20% more than the prior year but 3% below analyst estimates. Adjusted EBITDA grew 24% year-over-year to $151 million. EPS of $0.21 beat market projections by four cents. USDC onchain transaction volume surged 260% compared to the same quarter of the prior year, reaching $21.5 trillion, while the amount of USDC in circulation grew 28% to $77 billion.
