On May 11, Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL), the crypto company popular for its USDC stablecoin offering, announced a raise of $222 million from leading investors like BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), Bullish (NYSE: BLSH), Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, a16z Crypto, Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), etc.

The investment involves a presale raise of $222 million for Arc, Circle’s new institutional Layer 1 blockchain, at a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion.

Related: Circle stock surges on two key announcements

The testnet was launched in October 2025, and the mainnet, upon launch, will have quantum-resistant features, Arc said in April 2026.

Built for institutional finance, the Arc blockchain uses USDC as its native gas token. If its adoption grows, Circle’s USDC will not need to disproportionately rely on other networks like Ethereum and Solana.

Following the announcement of investment, the Circle stock rose 2% to trade at $116.23 at the time of writing.

But it also had to do with the company reporting its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.

Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:

Circle generated a quarterly revenue of $694 million, missing the analyst estimate of $715 million.

Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.21, however, beat the analyst estimate of $0.18.

As far as USDC is concerned, the circulation of $77 billion at quarter end grew 28%, and the onchain transaction volume of $21.5 trillion grew 263% this quarter.

Circle’s reserve income of $653 million grew 17% YoY, primarily driven by the 39% growth in average USDC in circulation.

Related: Circle director sells $1.38 million in shares days before earnings

This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.