Circle Internet Group has agreed to sell 740 million ARC tokens for $222 million in a private placement led by Andreessen Horowitz, valuing its Arc blockchain network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis.
The company disclosed the token sale alongside its first-quarter 2026 earnings report, which showed stronger revenue growth despite a decline in net income.
The Internet’s largest paradigm shift is happening now, and our Q1 results underscore Circle’s role at the center of these changes.
→ $694M total revenue and reserve income, +20% YoY
→ $77.0B USDC in circulation, +28% YoY
→ $21.5T in USDC onchain transaction volume, +263% YoY… pic.twitter.com/GYwLy0v2Dl— Circle (@circle) May 11, 2026
The funding round attracted major institutional investors, including BlackRock, Apollo Global Management, ARK Invest, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered.
Circle said it signed the token purchase agreements on Friday, pricing ARC at $0.30 per token under a private placement exempt from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933.
Circle expands beyond USDC with Arc blockchain
Circle launched the Arc blockchain in August 2025 as an open layer-1 network focused on stablecoin finance and tokenized assets.
In a newly released whitepaper, the company described ARC as the native token powering its “Economic OS” blockchain ecosystem. The token is designed to support governance, staking, network security and onchain operations.
The network currently uses a proof-of-authority model with permissioned validators but plans to transition toward a proof-of-stake consensus system.
Circle said ARC will have a fixed supply of 10 billion tokens. Around 60% will go toward ecosystem growth, including developers, grants and network expansion. Another 25% has been reserved for Circle to support development and governance, while the remaining 15% will serve as a long-term reserve.
CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that Circle is entering the operating system business by building a multi-stakeholder distributed model. The company also launched its Agent Stack to support USDC-based payments for autonomous AI agents.
How Circle’s revenue reacted to the USDC activity surge
Circle’s first-quarter financial results showed continued growth in its stablecoin business. USDC circulation increased 28% year over year to $77 billion, while onchain transaction volume jumped 263% to $21.5 trillion.
Total revenue and reserve income rose 20% to $694 million, driven by higher USDC reserve earnings and increased transaction activity. However, net income fell 15% to $55 million as operating expenses surged 76% to $242 million. Circle attributed the increase mainly to post-IPO stock-based compensation, payroll taxes and continued investment in infrastructure and product expansion.
Despite the higher costs, adjusted EBITDA rose 24% to $151 million. Shares of CRCL were up about 3% in premarket trading at $116.7, extending gains that have pushed the stock up more than 40% since the start of the year.
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