Circle Internet Group has raised USD 222 million in a token presale for its new Arc blockchain, drawing investment from BlackRock, Apollo Funds, and Andreessen Horowitz.
The raise marks a significant strategic expansion for Circle beyond its stablecoin business.
Andreessen Horowitz's a16z crypto division led the round with a USD 75 million commitment. Additional participants include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange (parent of the New York Stock Exchange), SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, ARK Invest, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures, and Bullish, the crypto exchange and CoinDesk owner.
Arc: infrastructure for institutional finance
Arc is a public blockchain designed specifically for institutional financial use cases. According to CNBC, Circle has positioned the network as infrastructure capable of supporting not only stablecoin settlement but broader economic functions, including financial contracts and governance mechanisms. In addition, the company argues that existing blockchain networks, such as Ethereum and Solana, on which USDC currently depends, were not built with large financial institutions in mind.
Circle holds a 25% stake in Arc's initial token supply of ten billion tokens. A further 60% is allocated to participants who build on, use, or contribute to the network, with the remaining 15% reserved for a long-term reserve. Moreover, the company intends to operate validator infrastructure, generating fee revenue and staking income as the network grows.
Alongside the Arc announcement, Circle disclosed a suite of developer tools designed to support AI agent use cases, specifically enabling autonomous software agents to manage transactions, access online services, and make payments using USDC.
Regulatory context and competitive positioning
The Arc initiative comes as the regulatory environment for stablecoins in the US becomes more defined. The GENIUS Act, signed into law in 2025, and the CLARITY Act, which was awaiting an initial Senate Banking Committee vote at the time of the announcement, form part of a broader legislative effort to establish frameworks for compliant digital assets and on-chain capital markets.
Circle is the first publicly listed company to conduct a token presale, a mechanism in which digital tokens are sold prior to a blockchain's official launch. Token presales are sometimes compared to initial public offerings in that both produce a transferable financial interest. However, their regulatory treatment differs significantly. Token sales, previously known as initial coin offerings, were associated with the 2017 crypto market cycle and a number of subsequent failures. Conditions have since shifted under revised regulatory postures toward on-chain capital formation.
Circle's push into blockchain infrastructure also reflects a defensive strategic consideration: as stablecoin regulation advances, banks and fintechs may launch competing dollar-denominated tokens, potentially reducing demand for third-party issuers such as Circle. Owning more of the infrastructure on which USDC operates could help the company retain relevance as the stablecoin market matures.
