BlockBeats News, May 11th, according to CNBC, Circle Internet Group raised $222 million in a presale of its new blockchain's native token ARC. The company is seeking to expand beyond its core business of issuing the USDC stablecoin. This funding round brought Arc's fully diluted network valuation to $30 billion.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led this funding round with a $75 million investment. Other investors include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange (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 cryptocurrency exchange and CoinDesk's parent company Bullish.

As the holder of 25% of the initial 10 billion token supply of ARC, Circle can participate in running validator infrastructure, earn new fee income, and receive staking rewards. The majority of tokens (60%) will be distributed to participants building, using, and contributing to the Arc network. The remaining 15% will go into a long-term reserve.