Circle Raises $222M in Token Presale for Arc Blockchain at $3B Valuation
Circle Internet Group has raised $222 million in a token presale for its new institutional blockchain Arc, achieving a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. The raise was led by Andreessen Horowitz with $75 million, with BlackRock and Apollo Funds also participating, signaling growing Wall Street interest in tokenized capital formation. Circle plans to use Arc as a stablecoin-focused layer-1 blockchain, featuring modular privacy systems using zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and Trusted Execution Environments. The initial supply is 10 billion tokens: 25% held by Circle, 60% allocated to network participants, and 15% to a long-term reserve. A developer funding program has opened for ecosystem growth. Circle also announced Q1 results showing USDC circulation growing 28% to $77 billion, with on-chain transaction volume rising 263% to $21.5 trillion. CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that the model could spread across corporate America, predicting that all company shares will eventually be tokenized.
Key facts
- Circle raised $222M in Arc token presale at $3B fully diluted valuation.
- Andreessen Horowitz led with $75M; BlackRock and Apollo participated.
- Arc is a layer-1 blockchain focused on stablecoins with privacy features.
- Initial token supply: 10B; 60% to network participants, 25% to Circle.
- USDC circulation grew 28% to $77B; on-chain volume up 263% to $21.5T.