Circle Shares Jump After Q1 Beat and $222 Million Arc Presale
The launch signals a push to make USDC-based rails a core layer for big financial firms.
Overview
- Investors sent the stock up about 15% after Circle beat first-quarter targets and revealed a $222 million presale for its Arc blockchain at a $3 billion valuation.
- The company reported $694 million in revenue and reserve income, up 20% year over year, with 77.0 billion USDC in circulation and $21.5 trillion in on-chain USDC volume.
- The Arc token sale drew a16z crypto as lead with $75 million, with BlackRock, Apollo, Intercontinental Exchange, ARK Invest, Haun Ventures, and Standard Chartered Ventures also participating.
- Arc is a public blockchain for institutions with USDC as the gas token, Ethereum compatibility, and testnet results showing 166 million transactions with roughly half-second settlement.
- Circle published the Arc whitepaper and launched Circle Agent Stack for autonomous AI payments, while saying quantum-resistant security is planned for mainnet.