Circle Closes $222 Million Arc Token Presale Led by Andreessen Horowitz at $3 Billion Valuation

Circle, the issuer of USDC, closed a $222 million token presale for its Arc blockchain at a $3 billion valuation, with Andreessen Horowitz leading the round with $75 million.

“'I don’t think that’s crazy': Here is why Circle is betting on new $3 billion blockchain The USDC stablecoin issuer is betting Arc can become Wall Street’s blockchain rail for payments and tokenized finance, though analysts still see it as speculative”

@coindesk

The Tech Buzz says the deal brings in BlackRock and Apollo Funds as institutional players “going all-in on crypto infrastructure,” while Circle positions Arc as a Layer-1 network designed for institutional finance applications.

@coindesk

Circle’s Arc effort is framed as a shift beyond moving dollars on other blockchains, with Circle describing the project as building “its own Layer-1 network designed specifically for institutional finance applications.”

Crypto Briefing similarly ties the Arc presale to Wall Street’s direct bets, saying the round pulled in a “very TradFi guest list” including Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Apollo, ICE, Standard Chartered, Janus Henderson, and ARK.

The presale’s headline numbers—$222 million and a $3 billion valuation—are presented as the clearest signal yet that major asset managers are backing a stablecoin-focused blockchain rail rather than only trading crypto assets.

CoinDesk’s account of the Arc pitch centers on Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, who told investors during an earnings call that “We have built what we believe will be one of the most institutionally-ready networks in the world.”

CoinDesk also quotes Allaire describing Arc as a system built for financial institutions, saying it is designed with the “trust required for global economic infrastructure.”

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At the same time, CoinDesk reports that analysts are divided on how much value to assign to Arc and its token before real usage materializes, even as major investors bet on bank- and Wall Street-ready blockchains.

CoinDesk frames the broader question for investors as whether Circle should be valued mainly as a stablecoin issuer or as an infrastructure company building the rails for digital finance.

The same CoinDesk piece says Arc is designed as an institution-focused blockchain “economic operating system” and aims to provide compliant, high-speed rails for stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Circle’s Arc launch is tied to the same $222 million presale and $3 billion valuation, with crypto.news saying the presale was backed by BlackRock and a16z and that Circle raised $222 million in a presale of ARC tokens.

Crypto.news adds that Circle becomes the first publicly listed company to conduct a token presale in a compliant structure of this kind, and it links the announcement to Circle’s first quarter 2026 earnings report.

In that earnings context, crypto.news reports total revenue and reserve income reached $694 million, up 20% year over year, while USDC in circulation grew 28% to $77 billion.

Crypto.news also describes Arc’s technical and institutional positioning, saying Arc uses USDC as its native gas token with sub-second finality, opt-in privacy, and EVM compatibility.

The stakes are reflected in Circle’s plan for validator and token economics, with crypto.news stating that a 25% stakeholder position in Arc’s initial supply of 10 billion tokens lets Circle participate in operating validator infrastructure and generate fee revenue and staking income.