PANews reported on May 11th, citing CNBC , that Circle , the issuer of USDC , raised $ 222 million in the pre-sale of its native token for its new public chain, Arc , valuing the network at approximately $ 3 billion in a fully diluted manner. The round was led by a16z crypto , with participation from about ten institutions including BlackRock , Apollo Funds , ICE ( the parent company of the NYSE), SBI Group , Janus Henderson , Standard Chartered Ventures, and ARK Invest . Arc is positioned as a public chain targeting institutional finance. Circle holds 25% of the initial 10 billion token supply and plans to generate revenue through validator fees and staking income. 60% of the tokens will be distributed to participants building and using the Arc network, with 15% held as a long-term reserve. Circle stated that it will launch tools and services around Arc to support AI agents using USDC for transactions and payments.