Circle Raises $222M in Arc Token Presale at $3B Valuation
Circle Internet Group raised $222 million in a presale for Arc, its new stablecoin-focused blockchain, achieving a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz ($75 million), with participation from BlackRock and Apollo Funds, highlighting Wall Street’s increasing acceptance of tokenized capital formation. Arc’s technical features include a modular privacy system using zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and Trusted Execution Environments to balance compliance and confidentiality. Of Arc’s initial 10 billion tokens, 25% are reserved for Circle, 60% for network participants, and 15% for a long-term reserve. Circle also launched a developer funding program to support the ecosystem. The company’s USDC stablecoin saw 28% growth in circulation in Q1, reaching $77 billion, and a 263% increase in on-chain transaction volume to $21.5 trillion. CEO Jeremy Allaire stated Circle is transitioning from its stablecoin origins to become a broader internet platform, comparing blockchain infrastructure to operating systems and cloud platforms. Circle’s token presale marks the first of its kind by a publicly listed company and may signal a shift toward corporate tokenization and stakeholder-driven network growth.
