Circle USDC agent stack and Arc network illustration

Circle Posts $77 Billion USDC in Circulation, Launches AI Agent Stack, and Raises $222 Million for Arc Network

By Isaac • May 12, 2026 8:06 pm • Comments

Circle reported first-quarter 2026 results on May 11 with $77.0 billion of USDC in circulation, up 28% year over year, and $21.5 trillion in onchain USDC transaction volume during the quarter, a 263% increase from a year ago. Revenue and reserve income hit $694 million, up 20%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 24% to $151 million.

Net income from continuing operations came in at $55 million, down 15% year over year. The margin pressure is real, but the top-line growth and volume acceleration show a stablecoin network that keeps getting more active, even as profitability lags behind scale.

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Alongside the earnings, Circle announced two major moves: a $222 million presale for its Arc token at a $3 billion fully diluted network valuation, and the launch of Circle Agent Stack, a set of tools built to let AI agents hold assets, discover services, and transact autonomously using USDC.

The Arc presale drew institutional names that read like a who’s-who of crypto and traditional finance convergence: a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Janus Henderson, SBI Group, and Standard Chartered Ventures. That roster says a lot about where large allocators see stablecoin infrastructure heading.

From Circle’s Q1 2026 results:

Circle’s Q1 2026 results reported $77.0 billion of USDC in circulation at quarter end, up 28% year over year, and $21.5 trillion in USDC onchain transaction volume during the quarter, up 263%. The company also reported $694 million in total revenue and reserve income, up 20%; $55 million in net income from continuing operations, down 15%; and $151 million in adjusted EBITDA, up 24%. Circle listed a $222 million ARC token presale at a $3 billion fully diluted network valuation, with investors including a16z crypto, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Janus Henderson, SBI Group, and Standard Chartered Ventures. The same results package said Circle Agent Stack adds permissionless infrastructure for agent-led activity, including Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments built on Circle Gateway. Circle also said its payment network reached $8.3 billion in annualized transaction volume based on trailing 30 day activity as of March 31.

The Agent Stack is the more forward-looking piece of the announcement. Circle is packaging four products together: Circle CLI for developer tooling, Agent Wallets that let autonomous software hold and manage USDC within policy-controlled guardrails, an Agent Marketplace for service discovery, and Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway supporting gas-free USDC transfers as small as $0.000001 at machine speed.

CEO Jeremy Allaire framed it as a convergence moment between AI platforms and onchain money.

The products are live at agents.circle.com. Allaire told CNBC the stack is designed for three audiences: humans exploring the space, developers building AI agents, and the agents themselves.

From the Circle Agent Stack announcement:

The Circle Agent Stack announcement describes a set of services and tools for the agentic economy, including Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway. Circle says the stack is designed to let developers and self-running AI agents hold assets, discover services, and transact programmatically with USDC across supported blockchains and payment protocols. The announcement says Nanopayments can support gas-free USDC transfers as small as $0.000001 at machine speed and scale, while Agent Wallets are permissionless, policy-controlled wallets built for agents to hold, send, and manage funds within predefined guardrails. Circle also says the Agent Marketplace gives humans and AI agents a directory of services they can browse, evaluate, and integrate with, making USDC payments part of the service-discovery flow. Circle says the initial products are already available through agents.circle.com for developers and agent builders.

Circle’s broader play is now visible. Circle already has the largest regulated dollar stablecoin by circulation. A 263% jump in quarterly onchain volume means USDC is becoming the default settlement layer for a growing share of crypto activity. Adding AI-native infrastructure on top of that positions Circle to capture transaction flow from autonomous agents, a category that barely existed two years ago and is now attracting serious capital.

The Arc presale is a separate bet. A $3 billion fully diluted valuation for a network layer backed by that investor list puts real money behind the thesis that stablecoin infrastructure companies can build protocol-level value beyond reserve income. The presale is private and should be understood as such.

Circle is reporting as a public company now, which means these numbers will face quarterly scrutiny. The net income decline alongside strong revenue growth is a real tension. But the volume growth and the institutional appetite for Arc suggest the market is pricing Circle on where USDC rails are going, and the Agent Stack launch gives that bet a concrete new surface area.

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