Circle stock jumps after Q1 beat, $222M Arc presale

Circle’s stock rose about 16% after the company reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results and disclosed a $222 million presale of its Arc blockchain token at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation.

For the quarter, Circle reported $694 million in total revenue and reserve income, a 20% increase from a year earlier. USDC in circulation reached $77.0 billion, up 28% year over year. The company said USDC on-chain transaction volume hit $21.5 trillion, a 263% year-over-year increase.

Circle said institutional investors participated in the Arc presale. a16z crypto led a $75 million tranche, and other participants included BlackRock, Apollo, Intercontinental Exchange, ARK Invest, Haun Ventures and Standard Chartered Ventures. Circle described the offering as a presale aimed at institutional backers rather than a retail sale.

Arc is presented as a public layer-1 blockchain designed for institutional finance, with USDC planned as the native gas token. Circle reported that Arc’s testnet processed about 166 million transactions with roughly half-second finality and near-perfect uptime through February. The company said the mainnet will include quantum-resistant features, sub-second finality, optional privacy controls and compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Circle also published Arc’s whitepaper and launched Circle Agent Stack, a set of autonomous AI payment agent tools intended to operate on Arc’s infrastructure. CEO Jeremy Allaire framed the project as, “We’re entering the operating system business.”

Circle provided limited detail on token economics beyond the presale valuation and investor list. The company did not offer forward guidance tied to Arc’s mainnet timing, citing technical readiness and planned security features for launch.

The company reported growth across its stablecoin business alongside the Arc disclosure. Circle said the gains in USDC supply and transaction volume reflect increased on-chain activity tied to payments, trading and institutional flows. The combination of the quarterly results and the presale announcement coincided with the intraday stock rally and drew attention from market participants.

Arc’s testnet performance and the institutional presale are preliminary indicators ahead of any mainnet launch. Circle said the platform will support optional privacy features aimed at balancing compliance and on-chain transparency.