Circle Releases Arc Whitepaper: What Early Interaction Opportunities Exist?

Original article by Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author: Asher (@Asher_0210)

Last night, stablecoin issuer Circle officially announced its Q1 2026 financial report (for more details, read: Breaking Down Circle's Q1 Earnings: After the Interest Rate Dividend Ebb, USDC Prepares for a Bigger Move). Compared to conventional financial metrics like revenue, profit, and USDC circulation, what caught the crypto community's attention, and particularly the sensitivity of "airdrop hunters," was Circle's disclosure in the report that its payment network, Arc, has completed a $222 million pre-sale of ARC tokens, valuing the project at $3 billion. The investor lineup includes well-known institutions such as a16z, BlackRock, ICE, Standard Chartered, and SBI. It is rare in the crypto industry to see so many traditional financial institutions collectively betting on a single public chain.

Furthermore, during tonight's earnings call, in response to a question about whether there would be a broader distribution of ARC tokens in the future, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire stated: "Our core focus right now is driving the launch of the Arc mainnet (coming soon) and driving utility and growth on the network. What we shared in the ARC token whitepaper is that 60% of the tokens are specifically allocated for ecosystem grants, airdrops, and other incentive programs, which is what Circle and the broader community hope to see over time. Obviously, there will be more opportunities going forward regarding the deployment of ARC tokens—especially for that 60% portion."

Next, Odaily Planet Daily will promptly introduce Arc, interpret the whitepaper for the public chain Arc released by Circle last night, and highlight the early interaction opportunities for token airdrops that are still available.

Circle Launches a Layer 1 Chain Dedicated to Stablecoins

Arc is a next-generation EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain launched by Circle, the "first stock of stablecoins," aimed at building the economic operating system for the internet by deeply integrating programmable stablecoins with on-chain financial innovation. Arc is specifically designed for financial applications, focusing on scenarios such as global payments, foreign exchange, lending, and capital markets, with the goal of providing a secure, low-cost, compliant, and scalable foundational settlement layer for programmable money on the internet.

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. By optimizing the architecture and a stable fee model, Arc will deliver an efficient, financial-grade transaction experience and drive the evolution of stablecoins from "digital dollars" to the core infrastructure for global payments, lending, forex, and capital markets.

Key Highlights from the Arc Whitepaper

The ARC token is the network's native coordination asset (utility-driven token) designed to align the long-term interests of participants. It is not Circle equity or profit-sharing. Its specific functions are as follows:

• Economic Alignment: Staking + Delegation, providing network security and earning fees/inflation rewards;
• Governance: Token holders participate in decisions on economic parameters (e.g., fees, inflation, burning);
• Fee Capture: The protocol layer converts fees into ARC (partially burned, rewards validators and stakers), with network activity directly driving demand and deflation;
• Platform Utility: Holding/staking ARC provides 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.

Additionally, the initial supply of ARC is 10 billion tokens, with the following distribution details:

• Ecosystem: 60% of total supply, covering token sales, developer grants, network growth programs, and broader participation mechanisms;
• Circle Team: 25% of total supply, ensuring Circle's economic interests are clearly aligned with the network's long-term success, while also allowing Circle to directly participate in staking and governance and manage ecosystem-related programs;
• Long-term Reserve: 15% of total supply, providing a buffer for unforeseen circumstances, usable in market imbalances, funding critical infrastructure, or supporting network stability during periods of stress.

Arc Tokenomics Model

Step-by-Step Guide to Participating in Arc's Early Interactions

Currently, Arc has not yet announced the token generation event (TGE) and is still in its early stages. Here are several angles for interaction:

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

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

Second, for project teams, apply for Circle Developer Grants (link: https://www.circle.com/grant), with priority support for AI agent payments, stablecoin FX, P2P payments, treasury management, prediction markets, lending, etc.

Third, for most regular users, participate in Arc's previously launched community activities. 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 lead to a larger allocation in future token launches. Go to the interaction website (link: https://community.arc.network/), register using a Google email (some users have reported that accounts previously registered via Google email cannot currently log in) or a LinkedIn account, complete verification, and log in.

Ways to earn points include:

• Daily Activity: 5 points;
• Posting: 10 points (1 time);
• Comment/Reply: 5 points (2 times);
• Accept Answer: 30 points (1 time);
• Reading Content: 5 points (up to 5 times);
• Watching Videos: 5 points (1 time).

Additional advanced tasks include:

• Publishing an article: 200 points;
• Becoming a video speaker: 500 points;
• Becoming an event speaker: 500 points;
• Hosting an Arc Core Meetup: 1,500 points.

Finally, join the official Discord, complete the verification to enter, and try to secure early role assignments (link: https://discord.com/invite/buildonarc).