Stablecoin giant Circle Arc chain token fundraising of $200 million! BlackRock, Standard Chartered, and ARK Invest participated

CNBC reports that Circle has raised $222 million through the native token presale of its new blockchain Arc. Arc’s fully diluted valuation reaches $3 billion.

This investment was led by a16z crypto, with an investment amount of $75 million. Other participants include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, ARK Invest, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures, and the crypto exchange CoinDesk parent company Bullish.

Circle CEO: “We’re entering the operating systems business”

In an interview with CNBC, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that blockchain infrastructure is becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms. Circle wants to build an “operating system” co-created by multiple stakeholders—run by major companies for infrastructure, and ultimately participate in governance.

Allaire described it as Circle becoming a broader internet platform company. He said, “We’re entering the operating systems business, and building it through tokens, decentralized networks, and a multi-stakeholder model. At the same time, we’re also entering the applications business.”

Arc is Circle’s public chain targeting institutional finance. Allaire emphasized that Arc isn’t just for stablecoins and payments—it aims to carry a fuller set of economic activity, including the contracts behind financial relationships, governance mechanisms, and the various systems needed to operate economic institutions.

In other words, Circle wants to do more than just another chain that simply carries USDC transfers. It wants an underlying network that enables institutions to issue assets, process transactions, execute contracts, and govern financial relationships.

Arc token allocation: Circle holds 25% of the initial supply

Arc’s initial token supply is 10 billion, of which Circle will hold 25%. This means Circle is not only the initiator of Arc, but also can participate in operating the validator infrastructure, further creating new fee revenue and staking returns.

For the rest of the token allocation, 60% will be distributed to participants building, using, and contributing to the Arc network, while another 15% will be set aside for long-term reserves.

Allaire also said investors in the future should pay attention to the network’s transaction volume, the scale of asset issuance, and the real application outcomes created by the developer community.

AI agents and the machine economy: USDC as the payments layer for software machines

Notably, Circle is also extending Arc’s narrative into AI agents and the machine economy.

Allaire said the global economy is entering an era increasingly operated by machines. AI agents will handle many operational and contract tasks that were previously the responsibility of humans. He noted, “We’re entering an era of an economic system driven by software machines. Software will do most of the work—that’s what AI agents represent.”

Circle is also launching a series of services and tools to help developers build AI agents that can manage transactions, access online services, and make payments using USDC.

This means Circle doesn’t just want USDC to be a payments tool between people and enterprises. It also wants it to be the settlement currency when AI agents trade autonomously on the network, buy services, and execute contracts.

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