Back

Circle Unveils Arc Layer-1 Network and ARC Tokenomics Ahead of 2026 Mainnet

Circle shares rose 15% to $130 after the company highlighted a $222 million ARC token presale and outlined Arc as infrastructure for institutional finance, validator revenue, and USDC-based AI agent services.

USDC

Fact Check
The claim is comprehensively corroborated by two independent, authoritative financial news outlets (CNBC and CoinDesk), both publishing on May 11, 2026, the stated event date. The $222 million raise, $3 billion fully diluted valuation, and the complete investor list (a16z crypto as lead, BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange/NYSE, SBI Group, Janus Henderson, Standard Chartered Ventures, ARK Invest) are all confirmed across these sources and further echoed by the official @CNBC X account and credible crypto news aggregators including Wu Blockchain. CoinDesk additionally names Bullish and Haun Ventures as participants not mentioned in the claim, which is a minor omission rather than a contradiction. No conflicting evidence was found.
Summary

Circle’s stock climbed 15% to $130 after the company disclosed it had raised $222 million in the presale of ARC, the native token for its new Arc blockchain, at a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion. In a CNBC interview, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company views Arc as a foundational blockchain platform for businesses and institutional finance, comparing it to major technology operating systems and cloud infrastructure. Circle said ARC has an initial supply of 10 billion tokens, with 60% allocated to ecosystem participants, 25% to Circle, and 15% to a long-term reserve. The company said its token allocation will let it run validator infrastructure, generate fee revenue, and earn staking income. Circle also said it is introducing tools for developers to build AI agents that can use USDC for payments, transactions, and access to online services.

Terms & Concepts
  • Layer-1: A base blockchain network that processes transactions and supports applications directly on its own chain.
  • Fully diluted valuation: A valuation based on the total potential token supply, rather than only the tokens already circulating or sold.
  • USDC: A U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle that is designed for digital payments, transfers, and other blockchain-based financial activity.