What to know:
- Circle Internet Group to sell 740M ARC tokens worth $222M in private placement led by a16z Crypto, valuing Arc at ~$3B.
- Arc network launched as a stablecoin-focused Layer-1 for payments, tokenization, and programmable finance.
- Strong Q1 2026 results: USDC supply up 28% to $77B, despite profit drop from rising expenses.
Circle Internet Group plans to issue 740 million ARC tokens worth $222 million through a private investment round led by a16z Crypto, with Arc’s valuation estimated at around $3 billion on a fully diluted basis.
The update was made along with the first-quarter earnings report for 2026. There has been an increase in the company’s revenues and reserves, although net income has fallen due to higher expenses.
Source: circle.com
The private investment has seen significant support from several large financial institutions and venture capital firms. Among others, in addition to a16z Crypto, there are BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group, and Standard Chartered Ventures.
Circle completed the arrangements for the sale of the tokens on Friday, when it was agreed to sell ARC tokens at a price of $0.30 each. The issuance was done through a private placement exemption.
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Circle Blockchain Token Strategy Overview
Arc was first launched by Circle in August 2025 as a layer-1 blockchain designed to facilitate payments using stablecoins. Later on, a whitepaper detailing ARC, a coordination token utilized for network coordination and management purposes, was published.
The Arc framework was built for stablecoin finance, tokenization of real-world assets, and programmable financial instruments, thus making it an essential component of Circle’s strategic roadmap.
As per the whitepaper, the native coin of Circle’s “Economic OS” platform is the ARCCoin. The current model involves a combination of permissioned validators, whereas the future plans include migration from Proof-of-Authority (PoA) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The total starting supply will be set at 10 billion tokens. Approximately 60% of the total supply will be used in the ecosystem development process and will be used for grants and for developers. Circle will hold 25% of the tokens for its own use, while another 15% will be kept for future purposes.
Circle Reports Strong USDC Growth
The financial report from Circle showed strong growth in the company’s core stablecoin business. The circulation of USDC was up by 28% year over year at $77 billion.
On-chain transactions also witnessed an increase, with the value of transactions increasing by 263% to $21.5 trillion. Total revenue and reserves income increased by 20% to $694 million, driven by increased interest income generated from USDC reserves.
Source: circle’s X Post
Despite that, net income fell by 15% to $55 million because of higher costs. The operating expense was up 76% at $242 million because of expenses like post-IPO stock compensation, salaries, tax, and investment in infrastructure and product development.
Despite increased expenses, the performance of Circle has also shown improvement, and adjusted EBITDA grew by 24% to $151 million.
As a result of the release, the stock price of Circle increased by 3% before the market opened and was trading at $116.7. In the last month, the company’s stock increased by 12%, while the increase in stock price during this year already exceeds 40%.
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