Circle Banks $200M From Giants Like BlackRock In Arc Token Presale, CRCL Jumps 15%

Shares of stablecoin issuer Circle (CRLC) climbed on Monday, rising by 15% to $130 for the first time in nearly a month. The move came after the company disclosed it had raised $222 million in the presale of Arc, the native token tied to Circle’s new blockchain. The funding values Arc at a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion

Speaking to CNBC in an exclusive interview, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire framed Arc as more than another crypto launch. He compared blockchain infrastructure to major technology platforms such as mobile operating systems and cloud services, arguing that it is becoming a foundational layer for how businesses operate. 

“We want to build an operating system that has many, many stakeholders in it,” Allaire said, describing a model that includes major companies helping to run and ultimately govern the infrastructure. 

He added that Circle is moving toward becoming “a broader internet platform company,” entering “the operating system business” while also laying groundwork for an eventual push into “the apps business.”

The Arc presale attracted heavyweight backing. Andreessen Horowitz led the round with a $75 million investment. Other participants named in the disclosure include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). 

The list also includes SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, ARK Invest, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures, and cryptocurrency exchange Bullish. 

Allaire said Arc is designed to support institutional finance and emphasized that Circle sees it as more than stablecoins and payments. In his comments, he pointed to the idea that the network can “run the actual economy.” 

He elaborated that the “economy” isn’t just digital representations of value, but the contracts and governance systems that underwrite financial relationships and the institutions that rely on them. In that framing, the token and the blockchain are meant to provide the infrastructure layer for how economic activity is coordinated, validated, and governed.

Circle also detailed how it plans to participate in the network. With a 25% stake in Arc’s initial supply of 10 billion tokens, Circle can take part in operating validator infrastructure, which it said will generate new fee revenue and allow the company to earn staking income. 

The token distribution is designed to support the ecosystem: 60% of the tokens are allocated to participants who build on, use, or contribute to the Arc network, while the remaining 15% goes to a long-term reserve.

In addition to Arc and its token economics, Circle said it unveiled a set of services and tools intended to help developers build artificial intelligence (AI) agents. The tools are designed to enable agents to manage transactions, access online services, and make payments using USDC. 

Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com