Circle Raises $222 Million for Arc Token at $3 Billion Valuation

Circle has raised $222 million in a presale for the ARC token, the native asset of its new Arc blockchain network. The deal values the project at $3 billion.

The fundraising round includes major institutional investors: BlackRock, Apollo Funds, a16z crypto, ARK Invest, Bullish, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, and Standard Chartered Ventures.

This marks Circle's most ambitious expansion beyond its core USDC stablecoin and payments infrastructure, pushing the company deeper into building blockchain infrastructure for institutional finance.

Circle published the Arc whitepaper outlining ARC as a "native coordination asset" for governance, validator security, and network operations. Arc is designed as a blockchain optimized for stablecoin-based capital markets, tokenized assets, cross-border settlement, and regulated financial activity.

ARC functions differently from USDC. While USDC is a dollar-pegged payment token, ARC serves a role similar to ether on Ethereum or SOL on Solana-coordinating the network's economic and security model.