Circle launches Agent Stack to give AI agents USDC stablecoin payment powers

Circle raises $222 million from BlackRock, Apollo and others in Arc token presale valued at $3 billion

Circle Internet Group Initial Public Offering at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2025. Circle Internet Group has raised $222 million in the presale of Arc, the native token of its new blockchain, as the company looks to expand beyond its core business of issuing the USDC stablecoin, CNBC has learned. Andreessen Horowitz served as the lead investor in the raise with a $75 million investment. Other investors include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange, SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, ARK Invest, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures and the crypto exchange and CoinDesk owner Bullish. The raise gives Arc a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion. "[Blockchain] infrastructure is becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told CNBC in an exclusive interview. "We want to build an operating system that has many, many stakeholders in it ... major companies who are running the infrastructure with us and who ultimately help to govern it." "We're becoming a broader internet platform company," Allaire added. "We're entering the operating system business and we're doing it by building this multi-stakeholder distributed model with a token, with a distributed network. But it is an operating system business. And we're also getting into the apps business." Arc is a public blockchain designed for institutional finance. Allaire emphasized it's about more than stablecoins and payments -- noting it can "run the actual economy." "The economy is not just representations of values, it's every contract that undergirds those financial relationships ... the systems of governance that we use to govern all these economic institutions," Allaire said. As a 25% stakeholder in Arc's initial supply of 10 billion tokens, Circle can participate in operating validator infrastructure, generating new fee revenue and earning staking income. The majority of the tokens, 60%, will go to participants who build on, use and contribute to the Arc network. The remaining 15% will be allocated to a long-term reserve. Investors should follow transactions, asset issuance and success on the network found by the developer community, Allaire said. He added that the economy is becoming increasingly machine-operated, with AI agents handling more of the operational and contractual work currently managed by humans. "We're entering this era where software machines will power the economic system," he said. "Software will do most of the work -- that is what AI agents represent." The company also unveiled a set of services and tools designed to help developers build AI agents that can manage transactions, access online services and make payments using USDC. Circle's ambitions with Arc reflect the existential shift other crypto firms are facing: They need to evolve beyond the businesses that were built in crypto's early days around the speculative cycles of cryptocurrencies, and toward more durable businesses with steadier and more diversified revenue. "While USDC has become the trusted digital dollar for banks, corporations, and financial institutions seeking the speed of crypto without its volatility, there remains a problem. The internet infrastructure which USDC runs on today wasn't built with big institutions in mind. It was built for individuals and crypto enthusiasts. That's where Arc comes in," a16z crypto wrote in a blog post Monday morning. If Arc is successful, it could allow Circle to own more of the infrastructure its flagship USDC stablecoin runs on. Today, USDC depends heavily on networks like Ethereum and Solana for settlement and distribution partners like Coinbase. The initiative is as much about playing defense as it is about growth. While regulation supporting stablecoins legitimizes them - including the GENIUS Act signed into law last year and the STABLE Act, which is set to get an initial vote this week in the Senate Banking Committee - some investors worry banks and fintechs may launch their own competing dollar tokens, removing the need for a third-party issuer. Circle is the first publicly listed company to conduct a token presale - an early sale of digital tokens before a blockchain project officially launches. Crypto companies like token sales for their ability to raise large amounts of capital and build an early user community. They are frequently likened to IPOs since both represent public-facing fundraising mechanisms that result in a transferable financial interest. Also known as "initial coin offerings," or ICOs, token sales became notorious for their role in fueling the 2017 crypto peak - when the market grew so quickly that projects launched with little oversight, leading to some high-profile failures and scams. The landscape has shifted significantly since then. Under the Trump administration's more crypto-friendly regulatory posture, the Securities and Exchange Commission is increasingly focused on establishing frameworks for compliant tokenized securities and on-chain capital formation, creating conditions that could encourage the return of ICO-style fundraising in a more mature and sustainable structure. "It is a major shift in how stakeholders can participate in the growth of networks," Allaire said. "Every company in the world, over time, will be tokenized, meaning your shares will be tokens ... [and] you will use digital tokens as mechanisms of engagement with your customers and stakeholders."

Circle Gives AI Agents USDC Stablecoin Powers Alongside $222M Arc Token Sale - Decrypt

Circle is positioning AI agents themselves, not just human developers, as the primary customers for its financial infrastructure. Circle Internet Group made a series of sizable announcements Monday, including reporting its quarterly earnings and announcing a $222 million token sale that values its Arc network at $3 billion. On top of that, the firm also said that it has launched tools to let AI agents handle and spend its prominent USDC stablecoin. The firm announced the launch of Circle Agent Stack, a collection of developer tools and services built for the growing agentic economy -- where AI agents can open wallets, make payments, and hire other software services entirely on their own. The initial product lineup includes agent wallets, a command-line interface, an agent marketplace, and a nanopayments protocol capable of processing USDC transfers as small as $0.000001 at high speed and without gas fees. That last feature is designed for the kind of high-frequency, machine-to-machine micropayments that would be impractical -- and often impossible -- using conventional banking rails. The announcement reflects a broader industry wager that the infrastructure underpinning AI agents must be rebuilt from scratch. Traditional financial systems were designed around human users -- with manual onboarding, approval workflows, and payment processes that software operating autonomously simply cannot navigate. "Financial infrastructure has historically been built for people, with manual onboarding, approvals, and payment flows that were never designed for software acting on its own," said Circle co-founder, CEO, and Chairman Jeremy Allaire, in a statement. "We believe the next phase of the global economy will be increasingly AI and agent-driven. The launch of Circle Agent Stack is exciting as it's the first full suite of services we're launching where AI agents themselves are the customers, not just developers and enterprises." The agent marketplace component would allow AI agents to browse and pay for services from other agents programmatically, creating a potential ecosystem of machine-to-machine commerce built on USDC and compatible blockchains. Circle, which trades on the NYSE under the ticker CRCL, reported $77 billion in USDC in circulation as of the end of the first quarter, a 28 percent increase from a year earlier. CRCL spiked Monday following the announcements, finishing the trading day at a price of $131.76 -- a nearly 16% rise on the day. Over the last month, Circle shares have climbed nearly 50%, per Yahoo Finance data.

Circle shares close 16% higher after $222M token sale, mixed earnings - SiliconANGLE

Circle shares close 16% higher after $222M token sale, mixed earnings Shares of Circle Internet Group Inc. closed 15.9% higher today after it reported earnings, announced a token sale and debuted a new set of developer tools. NYSE-listed Circle issues the popular USDC stablecoin. Users can purchase the US dollar-denominated token by depositing fiat currency in accounts operated by the company. The interest that those deposits collect accounts for the bulk of Circle's revenue, while the rest comes from a lineup of developer tools. The company ended the first quarter with sales of $694 million, 20% more than a year earlier. The interest income that the company earns from users' fiat deposits accounted for $653 million of that sum, which represents a 17% year-over-year increase. The total value of USDC in circulation reached $77 billion at the end of the quarter. Circle's revenue missed the consensus estimate by $28 million. The fact that the company's stock nevertheless closed higher may partly be the result of its earnings numbers, which topped expectations. Circle ended the third quarter with adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, of $151 million. That amounts to adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share, or $0.03 more than what the market expected. It's also 24% higher than the profit Circle delivered a year earlier. The token sale that the company announced in conjunction with its earnings report may have also factored into its share price gain. Circle disclosed that it has raised $222 million in a presale of its Arc token. According to CNBC, the cryptocurrency now has a market capitalization of $3 billion. Arc is powered by a Circle-developed blockchain of the same name that is currently undergoing testing. It's optimized for enterprise use cases such as lending. One Arc's main selling point is its predictable transaction fee structure, which avoids the price fluctuations that affect some competing blockchains. Circle's token sale was led by Andreessen Horowitz. It was joined by York Stock Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc,. BlackRock, Apollo Funds and other Wall Street heavyweights. Circle says that several major financial institutions are piloting Arc as part of their cryptocurrency adoption programs. The third major update the company announced today relates to its lineup of developer tools. One of the services in the suite, Wallets, enables consumer finance companies to embed crypto wallets into their apps. The other tools ease adjacent use cases such as moving funds across blockchains. Circle today debuted a new collection of developer tools called the Circle Agent Stack that enables artificial intelligence agents to make payments. The suite is underpinned by Agent Wallets, a service that gives AI agents access to digital wallets. Developers can set spending rules to limit how agents use the funds at their disposal. Another new service, Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway, enables agents to make purchases valued at as little as $0.000001. Circle envisions AI applications using the feature to purchase small items such as one-time access to a piece of data. Agents can also buy access to other agents. Developers can create wallets and launch transactions through a new command line interface called Circle CLI. It's joined by the Agent Marketplace, a portal for finding services to which agents can purchase access. "Financial infrastructure has historically been built for people, with manual onboarding, approvals, and payment flows that were never designed for software acting on its own," said Circle co-founder and Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire. "We believe the next phase of the global economy will be increasingly AI and agent-driven"

Circle Unveils "Agent Stack" for AI-driven Stablecoin Transactions

The new tools let AI agents hold wallets, discover services and make programmable USDC payments across blockchain networks. Circle launched a suite of tools designed to let AI agents hold wallets, discover services and make programmable payments using USDC, as companies race to build financial infrastructure for autonomous software systems. The products, released under Circle's new "Agent Stack," include agent-focused wallets, a command-line developer interface, a marketplace for agentic services and a nanopayments protocol for machine-to-machine transactions. Circle said the nanopayments infrastructure supports gas-free USDC (USDC) transfers as small as $0.000001 and is designed for high-frequency autonomous payment flows between software systems. The company said the tools are built to allow AI agents to transact autonomously within predefined permissions, spending controls and policy guardrails across supported blockchains and payment networks. The rollout also includes Circle CLI, a command interface for developers and AI agents building applications on Circle's platform, and Agent Wallets, which the company said are designed for agents to hold, send and manage funds independently. Circle is the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization with roughly $78 billion in circulation, according to DeFiLlama data. Shares of Circle (CRCL) were up around 18% in midday trading and more than 51% over the past month. Circle's launch comes as crypto companies increasingly position stablecoins and blockchain networks as financial infrastructure for AI agents. In March, MoonPay released an open-source wallet standard designed to let AI agents manage funds and execute transactions across blockchains through a shared wallet framework with built-in policy controls and encrypted key storage. That same month, BitGo launched an AI-focused developer tool that allows AI agents and assistants to access wallet tools, API resources and technical documentation through natural-language prompts. Visa also introduced a command-line tool for AI-driven payments without exposing API keys, while Stripe-backed Tempo launched a blockchain and payments protocol designed for stablecoin transactions between autonomous software systems. Meanwhile, Coinbase said its Ethereum layer-2 network Base was upgrading infrastructure for an "AI agent economy," with plans focused on stablecoin payments, tokenized assets and developer tools for autonomous software systems. Last week, Exodus launched XO Cash, a Solana-based stablecoin and developer toolkit designed to let AI agents make payments through agent-linked wallets with configurable spending controls and access to Visa payment rails. The growing push toward AI-driven automation has already begun to reshape company workforces. Earlier this month, Coinbase said it would cut roughly 14% of its staff, as CEO Brian Armstrong pointed to advances in AI as one of the factors changing how its teams operate.

Circle Chases Agentic Growth to Scale Stablecoin Infrastructure | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. They are increasingly tasked with sustaining premium valuations while simultaneously absorbing the costs of expansion, compliance and platform development. That was the dominant narrative on Circle's first-quarter 2026 earnings call Monday (May 11), where the stablecoin issuer and digital asset infrastructure provider framed itself not as a payments company, but as an economic operating system being built for the future. "Circle is an early-stage company just starting to execute our long-term strategy," Circle co-founder, CEO and chairman Jeremy Allaire said. "We are entering a fundamentally different era of software-powered money... at internet scale and velocity." "With the ARC token presale, momentum behind the Arc network and the launch of our Agent Stack, we are building trusted infrastructure for AI-native economic activity and a more programmable internet financial system," Allaire added. In its financial materials and on the call, the company emphasized the convergence of artificial intelligence systems and blockchain-based economic coordination. Circle described a future where "software machines, powered by AI, deliver an increasing share of the world's economic activity." Read also: Stablecoin Settlement Brings Cross-Border Interoperability to Local RTP Networks The central thesis of Circle's leadership is that autonomous AI agents will increasingly require mechanisms for identity, payments, coordination and programmable execution. Traditional payment rails were designed for humans and institutions, not agentic software entities capable of initiating millions of low-value transactions in real time. Circle believes stablecoins can become the native monetary layer for these systems. The company's new Circle Agent Stack represents its clearest move in that direction. The platform includes agent wallets, programmable payment infrastructure, micropayment rails and marketplaces intended to allow AI agents to transact independently using Circle's USDC stablecoin. One of the most notable features is "Nanopayments," which Circle said enables gas-free USDC transfers as small as one-millionth of a dollar. The capability targets a future where machine-to-machine commerce becomes economically viable at scale. In practical terms, Circle is betting that autonomous AI systems will eventually require a financial layer optimized for software rather than humans. If that thesis proves correct, the opportunity extends beyond cryptocurrency speculation and into the architecture of digital commerce itself. The company also announced that it raised $222 million in a presale of ARC tokens at a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion, with participation from investors, including BlackRock, a16z crypto, ARK Invest and others. Arc is being positioned as an enterprise-grade Layer-1 blockchain optimized for payments, tokenization and financial settlement. Allaire described it as an "Economic OS for the internet." "If you're a platform company like Circle, it's very clear that AI-driven and agentic-driven infrastructure and automation is going to be very central," he said. See also: Stablecoin Fragmentation Creates New Risks for Businesses Operationally, Circle's core stablecoin business continued to grow with circulation of its USDC stablecoin rising 28% year over year to $77 billion in the quarter, while on-chain transaction volume surged to $21.5 trillion, a 263% increase from the prior year. The company generated $653 million in reserve income during the quarter, accounting for most of the company's total revenue of $694 million. As long as interest rates remain elevated, Circle can continue to benefit from the yield generated on reserves backing USDC. When, or if, rates normalize, reserve income could compress materially. Circle's growing push into software, infrastructure and AI services cited by executives on Monday's call appears designed to diversify before that compression arrives. Circle also highlighted expanding enterprise integrations across firms, including Meta, Mastercard, Deutsche Telekom-backed Banking Circle, DTCC, Fireblocks and Standard Chartered. Still, Circle now resembles a company straddling three identities simultaneously, including a regulated financial institution, a crypto infrastructure provider and an AI-era software platform. Each may require substantial investment, specialized talent and regulatory coordination. Findings in the PYMNTS Intelligence report "Stablecoins Gain Ground: Why CFOs See More Promise There Than in Crypto" from March revealed that while 42% of middle-market companies have at least discussed stablecoins, only 13% have reported actual stablecoin use. Businesses that wish to use stablecoins have indicated they are more interested in joining forces with banks than with crypto firms.

Circle Launches AI Tools and Raises $222 Million in Token Sale | PYMNTS.com

"[Blockchain] infrastructure is becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an interview with CNBC. "We want to build an operating system that has many, many stakeholders in it ... major companies who are running the infrastructure with us and who ultimately help to govern it." "We're becoming a broader internet platform company," Allaire said. "We're entering the operating system business and we're doing it by building this multi-stakeholder distributed model with a token, with a distributed network. But it is an operating system business. And we're also getting into the apps business." Arc is a public blockchain built for institutional finance, and can "run the actual economy" beyond stablecoins and payments, the CEO told CNBC. "The economy is not just representations of values, it's every contract that undergirds those financial relationships ... the systems of governance that we use to govern all these economic institutions," Allaire said. Also Monday, Circle launched its Agent Stack, a set of services and tools create for the agentic artificial intelligence (AI) economy. Among the new offerings are Circle CLI, a command interface that allows developers and AI agents to build applications on top of Circle's entire platform suite, "with a deep focus on wallets, payments, and policy management for agents," the news release added. There's also the Agent Marketplace, a "curated directory" of agentic services that humans and AI agents can comb through, evaluate and connect with, letting agents discover and pay for services programmatically. The stack is designed to help developers and self-running AI agents create systems where agents can hold assets, discover services, and transact programmatically with Circle's USDC stablecoin on supported blockchains and payment protocols. "Financial infrastructure has historically been built for people, with manual onboarding, approvals, and payment flows that were never designed for software acting on its own," Allaire said in a news release. "We believe the next phase of the global economy will be increasingly AI and agent-driven. The launch of Circle Agent Stack is exciting as it's the first full suite of services we're launching where AI agents themselves are the customers, not just developers and enterprises."