Stablecoin issuer Circle raised $222 million for its Arc blockchain at a $3 billion valuation, driving a 15% stock jump.
Circle’s stock climbed 15% after reporting stronger-than-expected Q1 2026 earnings and announcing a $222 million presale of its Arc blockchain token. The raise values Arc at $3 billion fully diluted, with backing from major institutions including BlackRock, a16z crypto, and ARK Invest.
The company also unveiled the Arc whitepaper and launched Circle Agent Stack, an AI-powered payment tool suite built on Arc’s infrastructure. Arc, a public Layer-1 blockchain designed for institutional finance, processed 166 million transactions on its testnet with sub-second finality.
BTC traded at $80.7k as broader crypto markets faced pressure ahead of CPI data.