Autor Cointelegraph By Helen Partz

Circle Internet Group agreed to sell 740 million ARC tokens for $222 million in a private placement led by a16z Crypto, valuing the Arc blockchain network at $3 billion on a fully diluted basis.The New York Stock Exchange-listed issuer of the USDC stablecoin disclosed the token presale Monday alongside its first-quarter 2026 results, which showed higher revenue and reserve income but lower net income.The round was led by a16z Crypto and backed by a consortium including BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, Bullish, General Catalyst, Haun Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, IDG Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, SBI Group and Standard Chartered Ventures.Circle entered into the token purchase agreements on Friday, agreeing to sell the ARC tokens at $0.30 each in a private placement exempt from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933.The sale marks a major step in Circle’s effort to expand beyond stablecoin issuance into blockchain infrastructure, as the company seeks to build Arc into a settlement layer for stablecoin finance, tokenized assets and programmable financial markets.Circle first introduced Arc in August 2025 as an open layer-1 blockchain focused on stablecoin finance. It also published a whitepaper on Monday, describing ARC as a “native coordination asset” designed to support governance, security and network operations on the system.ARC token powers Circle’s “Economic OS” blockchainCircle’s Arc whitepaper describes ARC as the native token of its layer-1 “Economic OS” blockchain built for stablecoin-based finance and tokenized markets.The network uses a hybrid consensus approach, combining permissioned validators with a planned shift toward proof-of-stake (PoS) from the proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus model.ARC’s five interconnected functions. Source: ARCCircle said ARC has a fixed initial supply of 10 billion tokens allocated across three buckets, with about 60% going to the ecosystem for developers, grants and network growth, while 25% is reserved for Circle to support development, staking and governance participation.The company said the remaining 15% is set aside as a long-term reserve to provide flexibility and stability during market stress or future network needs.Related: Canton Network creator targets $300M in capital raise: ReportCircle’s Q1 revenue rises as USDC growth offsets higher costsCircle’s financial performance in the first quarter was driven primarily by continued growth in USDC circulation and transaction activity.USDC in circulation rose 28% year over year to $77.0 billion at quarter end, while onchain transaction volume surged 263% to $21.5 trillion. Total revenue and reserve income, which includes earnings from USDC reserves and other business lines, rose 20% to $694 million.Source: CircleNet income fell 15% to $55 million, as higher costs outweighed revenue growth. Operating expenses rose 76% to $242 million, driven mainly by post-IPO stock-based compensation and related payroll taxes, along with continued investment in product, distribution and infrastructure.Even so, Circle’s underlying business performance improved, with adjusted EBITDA rising 24% to $151 million.Circle (CRCL) stock price chart year-to-date. Source: Yahoo FinanceCircle (CRCL) shares were up around 3% in premarket trading to $116.7, extending recent gains, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock is up around 12.2% over the past month and more than 40% year to date.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

Cryptocurrency investment products recorded a sixth straight week of inflows in their longest streak since April to July 2025, totaling $4.9 billion, as improving sentiment around US crypto legislation helped push Bitcoin above $80,000 and lift assets under management to their highest level since February.Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) posted around $858 million in inflows last week, sharply up from $118 million in inflows the previous week, CoinShares reported Monday.The gains were likely supported by developments around the US CLARITY Act, said CoinShares head of research James Butterfill, referring to a final compromise proposal regarding stablecoin yields released on May 1.Amid the positive trend, Bitcoin broke above $80,000 last week, lifting total assets under management in crypto ETPs past $160 billion, the highest since February.Bitcoin leads inflows, while short-BTC funds see the largest outflows year-to-dateBitcoin (BTC) investment products led the show last week, attracting $706 million in inflows and bringing year-to-date flows to $4.9 billion.In line with the improving sentiment, short-Bitcoin ETPs saw their largest weekly outflow of the year at $14 million, suggesting investors are pulling back from bets against BTC as confidence in the rally grows.Crypto ETP flows by asset (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinSharesEther (ETH) ETFs saw $77 million in inflows, reversing the $81 million in outflows recorded the previous week. Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) also posted notable gains, with inflows of about $48 million and $40 million, respectively.Late-week profit-taking holds back the rallyLast week’s inflows came despite significant selling later in the week as Bitcoin briefly dipped below $80,000 on Thursday.On Thursday and Friday, US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw $423 million in outflows, reducing net weekly inflows to about $623 million, according to SoSoValue.Bitcoin (BTC) seven-day price chart. Source: CoinGeckoOnchain analytics platform CryptoQuant pointed to realized profits totaling 14,600 BTC, or $1.1 billion, on Monday, the largest single-day profit-taking since Dec. 10, when Bitcoin was trading above $90,000. CryptoQuant’s Julio Moreno said rising realized profits could accelerate Bitcoin profit-taking as BTC climbs to three-month highs.Related: Bitcoin rallies 2.3% after Trump calls Iran peace proposal ‘totally unacceptable’“The rally started to stall from the middle of the week as investors quickly took profit on their positions,” Laser Digital’s derivatives trading desk said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.“Comments from DAT companies, whether it be selling or slowing purchases, didn’t help either. Given a lot of investors had pre-positioned for a move higher anticipating strong bid from MSTR this week, this has likely triggered some take-profit flows,” Laser Digital’s derivatives division added.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said stablecoins are not Europe’s best route to strengthening the euro’s international role, pushing back against calls to respond to US dollar-backed stablecoins with euro-denominated tokens.Speaking on Friday at the Banco de España LatAm Economic Forum in Roda de Bará, Spain, Lagarde made several comments on the role of stablecoins in the European economy. “It is no longer about whether stablecoins should exist, but whether jurisdictions can afford to be without them,” she said, arguing that the case for promoting euro stablecoins becomes less clear once their two core functions are separated.“The benefits attributed to them [stablecoins] rest on two distinct functions — a monetary function and a technological function — that are systematically conflated in the current debate,” Lagarde said.The speech lays out one of Lagarde’s clearest arguments yet against treating euro stablecoins as Europe’s answer to US dollar-backed stablecoins, which currently dominate the market with a roughly 98% share. The US has been promoting dollar stablecoins as a way to support the US dollar as a global reserve currency. Instead, she said Europe should build tokenized financial infrastructure anchored by central bank money, including the Eurosystem’s Pontes project for wholesale settlement and the Appia roadmap for an interoperable European tokenized finance ecosystem.Monetary function: Possible upside, but clear trade-offsHowever, Lagarde said that euro-denominated stablecoins operating under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) “could generate additional global demand for euro-area safe assets.”She stressed that this comes with significant trade-offs, including financial stability risks such as fund runs and reserve fragility, and weaker monetary policy transmission if deposits move out of banks.Source: Christine LagardeLagarde pointed to the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, when Circle’s USDC stablecoin briefly fell below its peg after revealing exposure to the bank, as an example of how quickly confidence can weaken.She said such episodes show how redemption pressures can spill into underlying asset markets and, as stablecoin use grows, create feedback loops between redemptions and prices, particularly where issuers are not banks.Technology function: Stablecoins are not the only solutionOn the technology side, Lagarde acknowledged the role of stablecoins in cross-jurisdictional financial market infrastructure that is accessible “without relying on a maze of legacy intermediaries.”However, she said that this technological function is not unique to stablecoins. Other forms of tokenized money, including commercial bank deposits or central bank money, could perform the same role within distributed ledger systems, Lagarde said.“The answer […] does not lie in rejecting technology or discouraging stablecoins altogether. Instead, we must build the public infrastructure that will enable alternative instruments, such as stablecoins and other forms of tokenised money, to operate within a framework anchored by central bank money.”Lagarde said the EU response is to facilitate wholesale settlement in central bank money through its Pontes project, which links distributed ledger platforms to the Eurosystem’s existing settlement infrastructure, allowing DLT-based transactions to be settled directly in central bank money.Related: Stablecoin adoption to scale on back of big tech firms: BitwiseShe added that the Appia roadmap, published in March, goes further and outlines a plan for a fully interoperable European tokenized financial ecosystem by 2028.“Europe knows which port it is sailing to,” she said, adding: “Our task is not to replicate instruments developed elsewhere, but to build the foundations and the infrastructure that serve our own objectives, so that we can harness the benefits of innovation without importing the fragilities.”Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

US-listed spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) snapped a five-day inflow streak totaling nearly $1.7 billion as Bitcoin dipped below $80,000.Bitcoin funds logged $277.5 million in outflows on Thursday, marking the first daily outflows in May, according to SoSoValue data.Daily spot Bitcoin ETF flows since Friday. Source: SoSoValueThe Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) led the outflows at $129 million, while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) followed with $98 million in outflows, according to Farside.The sharp reversal in Bitcoin ETF flows came amid heightened Bitcoin volatility. Bitcoin rose above $82,000 on Wednesday before falling below the key $80,000 level the next day.Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF remains resilient amid broader outflowsThe Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust ETF (MSBT), the first spot Bitcoin ETF launched by a US bank, recorded modest inflows of $7.3 million on Thursday. The fund has not seen a single day of outflows since debut on April 8, 2026, according to Farside.MSBT has so far accumulated 2,920 BTC, worth around $232.6 million, growing assets held for its customers by 557% since launch.Daily spot Bitcoin ETF flows by issuer (in millions of US dollars) since Friday. Source: SoSoValueThe only other Bitcoin fund to record inflows on the day was the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC), a low-cost spot Bitcoin ETF offered by Grayscale alongside its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).Related: VanEck’s Sigel sees Bitcoin reaching $1M within five yearsCanton Network ETF ends slightly lower on Nasdaq debut as token slipsThe Bitcoin ETF outflows came alongside the Nasdaq debut of the 21Shares Canton Network ETF (TCAN), the first US-listed ETF designed to offer direct exposure to Canton Coin, the native utility token of the Canton Network.TCAN began trading on Nasdaq on Thursday and closed its first session at $24.66, slightly down from an initial price of $24.76, according to Nasdaq data. Canton Coin slipped 1.7% on the day, trading at $0.145 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.The Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.meThe negative trend in crypto markets pushed the Crypto Fear & Greed Index into “Fear” on Friday at 38 after briefly returning to “Neutral” the previous day. The index is still significantly above April levels, when it averaged 17, as Bitcoin has risen about 11% over the past 30 days.Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1MCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Kraken parent Payward agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for up to $600 million, expanding its push into stablecoin payments and business-to-business (B2B) financial infrastructure.Payward has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Reap for up to $600 million, the company announced Thursday. The deal is set to be paid in a mix of cash and Payward stock, in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion. It would expand Payward Services, the company’s B2B infrastructure platform launched in March 2026.The deal comes as crypto companies increasingly expand beyond trading services into payments infrastructure and stablecoin-related products as stablecoins gain traction among fintech firms and businesses.In a statement on Thursday, Reap co-founders said the platform would continue operating as a standalone platform, adding that the transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals, expected to close in the second half of 2026.Reap expands Payward Services into global cards and paymentsPayward Services allows companies to integrate trading, payments, funding and digital asset services through one system.The acquisition of Reap extends that platform into the global cards and payments space, allowing partners to embed card issuance, cross-border payments, and stablecoin treasury services alongside Payward’s existing capabilities.Source: Kraken“Reap is the payments layer for what comes next. Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins,” Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the announcement.Related: Kraken parent Payward closes Bitnomial deal to expand US crypto derivativesThe acquisition of Reap follows Payward’s acquisitions of Bitnomial exchange, futures broker NinjaTrader and xStocks issuer Backed, as the company continues expanding its platform through targeted acquisitions.Reap deal deepens Asia pushReap was founded in 2018 by Daren Guo, who previously worked for the Asia Pacific business at the payments firm Stripe, and former investment banker Kevin Kang, according to its website.The company specializes in provisioning payment solutions to connect traditional financial systems with digital assets, aiming to enable cross-border money flows.Sethi reportedly said that the deal marks Payward’s first infrastructure acquisition in Asia and one of its largest transactions to date.“If you take Europe out, the fastest growing market is Asia, not just revenue but also asset-on-platform,” Sethi said, adding: “They have already done it in Asia. They can expand into the US overnight with us.”Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.