Circle Releases Arc Whitepaper – What Are the Early Interaction Opportunities?

Original by Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author: Asher (@Asher_ 0210)

Last night, stablecoin issuer Circle officially released its Q1 2026 financial report (For more details, see: Breaking Down Circle's Q1 Earnings: After the Interest Rate Dividend Fades, USDC Prepares a Bigger Move). Compared to conventional financial metrics like revenue, profit, and USDC circulation, what particularly caught the crypto community's attention—and especially sensitive for "airdrop hunters"—was Circle's disclosure in the report that its payment network Arc has completed a $222 million pre-sale of ARC tokens, at a valuation of $3 billion. The investor lineup includes top-tier institutions such as a16z, BlackRock, Intercontinental Exchange, Standard Chartered, and SBI. Such concentrated investment from traditional financial institutions into a single public chain is rare in the crypto industry.

Additionally, during tonight's earnings call, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, when asked "Will ARC tokens have a broader distribution in the future?", stated: "Our current core focus is on driving the launch of the Arc mainnet (coming soon) and fostering network utility and growth. As shared in the ARC token whitepaper, 60% of the tokens are specifically allocated for ecosystem grants, airdrops, and other incentive programs, which both Circle and the broader community hope to see over time. Clearly, there will be more opportunities in the deployment of ARC tokens—especially regarding this 60% portion."

Next, Odaily Planet Daily brings you a first-hand look at Arc, a breakdown of the Arc public chain whitepaper released by Circle last night, and the early interaction and airdrop opportunities still available to participate in.

Circle's Dedicated Stablecoin Layer 1

Arc is a next-generation EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain launched by Circle, the "first stock of stablecoins," aiming to build an economic operating system for the internet that deeply integrates programmable stablecoins with on-chain financial innovation. Arc is specifically designed for financial applications, focusing on serving global payments, foreign exchange, lending, and capital markets. Its goal is to provide a secure, low-cost, compliant, and scalable base settlement layer for the internet's programmable money.

Arc addresses three major pain points existing public chains face in enterprise and institutional-grade financial applications: insufficient high-frequency transaction performance, lack of privacy and compliance support, and excessive volatility in transaction fees. Through optimized architecture and a stable fee model, Arc will deliver efficient, financial-grade transaction experiences and drive stablecoins from "digital dollars" toward becoming the core infrastructure for global payments, lending, foreign exchange, and capital markets.

Arc Whitepaper Highlights

The ARC token is the network's native coordination asset (utility-driven token), designed to align long-term incentives among participants. It is not Circle equity or a share of profits. Its specific functions include:

• Economic Alignment: Staking + Delegation, providing network security, earning fees/inflation rewards;
• Governance: Holders participate in decisions on economic parameters (e.g., fees, inflation, burns);
• Fee Capture: The protocol layer converts fees into ARC (partially burned, rewarding validators and stakers); network activity directly drives demand and deflation;
• Platform Utility: Holding/Staking ARC offers Gas discounts, priority access to services, ecosystem benefits, etc.;
• Expanded Utility Surface: Future support for multi-chain coordination, multi-asset Gas, dedicated transaction channels, etc.

Furthermore, the initial supply of ARC is 10 billion tokens, with the following allocation details:

• Ecosystem: 60% of total supply. This covers token sales, developer grants, network growth initiatives, and broader participation mechanisms;
• Circle Team: 25% of total supply. This ensures Circle maintains clear economic alignment with the network's long-term success, while also enabling Circle to directly participate in staking and governance and manage ecosystem-related programs;
• Long-term Reserve: 15% of total supply. This provides the network with a buffer resource for unforeseen circumstances, usable during market imbalances, to fund critical infrastructure, or to support network stability during periods of stress.

ARC Tokenomics

Step-by-Step Guide to Participating in Arc Early Interaction

Currently, Arc has not announced a token generation event date and is still in its early stages. Several angles for interaction are available:

First, test tokens can be claimed via the Circle Faucet (link: https://faucet.circle.com/).

First, for developers, directly access Arc Docs (link: https://docs.arc.network/). This includes connecting to the Arc Testnet RPC, deploying contracts, testing USDC gas, sending stablecoins, performing bridge-in and bridge-out operations, and the App Kit. The official documentation lists available activities.

Second, for project teams, apply for Circle Developer Grants (link: https://www.circle.com/grant). Key supported areas include AI Agent payments, stablecoin FX, P2P payments, treasury management, prediction markets, and lending.

Third, for most regular users, participate in previously launched community activities for Arc. The social activities have five levels with corresponding requirements:

• Architects Level 1: Over 500 points;
• Architects Level 2: Over 3,500 points;
• Architects Level 3: Over 15,000 points;
• Architects Level 4: Over 40,000 points;
• Architects Level 5: Over 90,000 points.

Participating in this community activity at zero cost and achieving a higher level may secure a larger allocation in future token launches. Enter the interaction site (link: https://community.arc.network/), register using a Google email (some users have reported that accounts previously registered with Google email for community activities are currently unable to log in) or a LinkedIn account, complete verification, and log in.

Ways to earn points include:

• Daily Activity: Earn 5 points;
• Publish a Post: Earn 10 points (1 time);
• Comment/Reply: Earn 5 points (2 times);
• Accept an Answer: Earn 30 points (1 time);
• Read Content: Earn 5 points (up to 5 times);
• Watch a Video: Earn 5 points (1 time).

More advanced tasks include:

• Publish an Article: Earn 200 points;
• Become a Video Speaker: Earn 500 points;
• Become an Event Speaker: Earn 500 points;
• Arc Core Meetup Host: Earn 1,500 points.

Finally, join the official Discord server, complete the verification process to gain entry, and secure an early role identity (link: https://discord.com/invite/buildonarc).