Circle Internet Group raised $222 million through a private presale of its ARC token, valuing the company’s new Arc blockchain network at approximately $3 billion on a fully diluted basis. Investors in the round included BlackRock, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Apollo, and other institutional firms as Circle expands beyond its USDC stablecoin business.
The Arc blockchain is designed to support institutional stablecoin settlement and infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, reflecting growing interest in AI-driven financial systems and programmable payments. Circle said the network will use USDC for transaction settlement and aims to provide scalable infrastructure for tokenized finance and machine-to-machine transactions.
The fundraising comes as Circle continues to benefit from rising USDC adoption and increasing institutional demand for regulated digital asset infrastructure.
