Ropes & Gray Represented BlackRock in Circle Internet Group Presale of New Arc Blockchain Token

Ropes & Gray advised global asset manager and technology provider BlackRock among a consortium of investors in the presale of Circle Internet Group’s new blockchain token Arc, raising $222 million and valuing the total value of the Arc network at approximately $3 billion. The transaction was announced on May 11.

Circle is the issuer of the world’s second largest stablecoin, USDC. The token, which has not been launched, is linked to Circle’s Arc blockchain network, a new public Layer-1 blockchain intended to be a shared platform for stablecoins, tokenized assets, economic applications, and global markets to operate on a common infrastructure. The new token, called ARC, will use Circle’s stablecoin USDC to settle transactions.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by emerging companies and venture capital partner Dan Freshman and asset management partner Melissa Bender and included asset management partner Adam Schlichtmann, capital markets partners Craig Marcus and Christopher Capuzzi, data, privacy & cybersecurity partner Maya Song, litigation partner Helen Gugel, intellectual property counsel Jimmy Chen, capital markets counsel Marc Rotter and asset management counsel Charlie Humphreville.