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” blockchain

Circle’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: ARC

Circle 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: Report

Circle’s Q1 revenue rises as USDC growth offsets higher costs

Circle’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: Circle

Net 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 Finance

Circle (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

Ripple’s prime-brokerage unit announced Monday it closed a $200 million funding agreement with global investment firm Neuberger Berman to expand the margin it offers investors to trade in traditional and digital asset markets.

In its announcement, Ripple also said the funding will help support the ongoing growth of its multi-asset prime brokerage platform, Ripple Prime, citing increasing client demand for its institutional-grade services and margin financing solutions.

The crypto firm said that since it acquired Hidden Road and rebranded it as Ripple Prime in 2025, this platform’s revenue has tripled year over year. Neuberger Berman has approximately $570 billion in total assets under management (AUM).

Ripple acquired prime-brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the largest deals in the history of the cryptocurrency industry. The company later agreed to buy treasury-management software provider GTreasury for $1 billion.

“Dependable access to financing and balance sheet strength are critical to institutional participants in today’s dynamic markets,” said Noel Kimmel, President of Ripple Prime. “This facility enables us to grow alongside our clients by delivering increased margin capacity, greater responsiveness, and improved capital efficiency.”

Kimmel said that apart from the funding, Neuberger Specialty Finance brings deep expertise in asset-based finance and a strong understanding of Ripple Prime’s services and business model.

“Ripple Prime has built an innovative brokerage platform combining fintech-grade technology and agility with bank-level compliance and operational rigor,” said Peter Sterling, Head of Neuberger Specialty Finance.

Institutional investors are getting increasingly more involved in crypto assets, in part due to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s Administration’s drive for more crypto-friendly rules and regulations.

State Street Corp. announced a digital-asset platform earlier this year, while Standard Chartered Plc has plans to set up a prime brokerage for crypto trading.

Ripple also raised $500 million, giving the firm a $40 billion valuation, with backing from Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities. That capital was used to boost Ripple’s expansion into custody, stablecoins and prime-brokerage services.

Key Takeaways

• Intel shares jumped approximately 14% on Friday, followed by an additional 6% gain in premarket trading Monday, reaching $130.13.
• A preliminary chip manufacturing agreement between Apple and Intel was reached, with support from the U.S. government playing a facilitating role.
• Separate reports indicate Intel is negotiating with SK Hynix regarding chip-packaging solutions, which could establish a second major foundry partnership.
• Following the conversion of $9 billion in federal grants to equity, the U.S. government now owns approximately 10% of Intel.
• First-quarter results significantly exceeded projections — adjusted EPS reached $0.29 compared to the $0.01 estimate, while revenue totaled $13.58B against a $12.42B forecast.

Intel’s trajectory in 2026 has been nothing short of remarkable. The chipmaker’s stock has surged more than threefold year-to-date, with the most recent rally fueled by consecutive major announcements that signal a potential turnaround for its struggling foundry operations.

Intel Corporation, INTC

According to a Friday report from The Wall Street Journal, Intel and Apple have struck a preliminary deal that would see Intel produce processors for Apple products. This agreement emerged after negotiations spanning over a year, with assistance from U.S. federal officials who had previously transformed $9 billion in government grants into equity ownership — establishing roughly a 10% government stake in the semiconductor giant.

The announcement triggered a surge of up to 14% in INTC shares on Friday. By Monday’s premarket session, the momentum continued with an additional 6% climb, pushing the stock to $130.13.

A follow-up report added fuel to the rally. ZDNet Korea disclosed that Intel is engaged in discussions with SK Hynix concerning chip-packaging capabilities designed to combine high-bandwidth memory with general-purpose processors — a market segment where TSMC currently holds dominant position. Neither Intel nor SK Hynix has issued public statements regarding these negotiations.

Should both partnerships materialize, Intel’s foundry division would transition from having no significant external clients to securing two major customers within mere weeks.

Strong First Quarter Results Paved the Way

The Apple partnership announcement didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Intel had already demonstrated solid performance before these major headlines broke.

First-quarter financial results substantially outperformed analyst expectations. The adjusted earnings per share of $0.29 crushed the consensus estimate of just $0.01. Total revenue reached $13.58 billion, surpassing the anticipated $12.42 billion. The data center division delivered particularly strong performance, posting 22% revenue growth to $5.1 billion, propelled by robust CPU demand for artificial intelligence applications.

During the earnings call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated: “The CPU is reinserting itself as the indispensable foundation of the AI era — this isn’t just our wishful thinking, it’s what we hear from our customers.”

The impressive quarterly performance triggered a 20% jump in INTC shares during after-hours trading when the results were disclosed.

Analyst Response

Bank of America upgraded its Intel price target from $56 to $96 following the Apple announcement, though the firm maintained its Underperform rating. The institution recognized that the foundry partnership could generate substantial revenue streams, despite maintaining its overall cautious perspective on the stock.

Prior to these developments, Intel’s only publicly confirmed external foundry client was Terafab — a venture connected to Elon Musk intended to supply Tesla and other Musk-affiliated enterprises — though specific terms of that partnership remain largely undisclosed.

Broader market conditions also provided favorable backdrop. The S&P 500 climbed 0.84% to close at 7,398.93 on Friday, while the Nasdaq advanced 1.71% to 26,247.08, with both indices reaching all-time highs. The global semiconductor industry has collectively added approximately $3.8 trillion in market capitalization during the past six weeks.

The April employment report showed non-farm payroll additions of 115,000, exceeding expectations, while the unemployment rate held at 4.3%.

Key Highlights

• Shares of Inhibrx Biosciences climbed 17% Monday following encouraging Phase 2 clinical trial data for INBRX-106 in head-and-neck cancer treatment.
• The experimental therapy paired with pembrolizumab delivered a 44% objective response rate compared to just 21.4% for pembrolizumab monotherapy.
• Among evaluable patients, 11 of 25 responded in the combination therapy group versus 6 of 28 in the single-agent arm; the combination group also recorded three complete responses while the control arm had zero.
• Patients receiving combination treatment demonstrated T-cell proliferation levels up to 15 times greater than those treated with pembrolizumab alone.
• The company plans to initiate Phase 3 enrollment in Q3 2026, with progression-free survival outcomes anticipated by Q4 2026.

Shares of Inhibrx Biosciences (INBX) gained 17% Monday after the biotechnology company unveiled encouraging interim data from its Phase 2 HexAgon clinical study evaluating INBRX-106 for the treatment of head and neck cancer.

Inhibrx Biosciences, Inc., INBX

The equity had already experienced remarkable growth exceeding 1,000% during the previous year, fueled by favorable data from another oncology candidate, INBRX-109, announced in October.

The clinical study evaluated INBRX-106 — a hexavalent OX40 agonist compound — combined with pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab administered as a single agent. The patient population consisted of first-line, treatment-naïve individuals with PD-L1 positive metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The combination therapy arm achieved a 44% confirmed objective response rate. By comparison, the control arm receiving only pembrolizumab recorded a 21.4% response rate — representing a statistically meaningful 22.6 percentage point advantage.

The trial enrolled a total of 68 participants, with 33 assigned to the combination therapy arm and 35 to the control group. Of these, 53 patients comprised the evaluable population for efficacy analysis.

Within that evaluable cohort, 11 of 25 patients treated with the combination regimen demonstrated responses. In the pembrolizumab-only group, six of 28 patients responded.

Notably, three patients in the INBRX-106 combination arm achieved complete responses. The control arm recorded zero complete responses.

Immune Cell Activity Reinforces Clinical Findings

Beyond the headline response metrics, the immunological data proved particularly compelling. Patients treated with the combination therapy exhibited up to a 15-fold mean elevation in CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell proliferation compared to baseline. Patients receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy showed increases reaching only 2.5-fold.

According to Inhibrx, this biological evidence provides mechanistic validation for the clinical outcomes — demonstrating that the underlying immune system activation aligns with the patient benefit observed in the trial.

CEO Mark Lappe expressed that the company was “greatly encouraged by these early clinical results,” highlighting specifically the quality and depth of responses being documented at this stage.

Toxicity Profile Deemed Acceptable

The combination regimen produced a safety profile that company officials characterized as manageable and aligned with expectations for dual immunotherapy approaches.

The most frequently observed treatment-related adverse events included rash, diarrhea, fatigue, and infusion-related reactions. The majority of these events were categorized as low-grade in severity.

Neither treatment arm reported any deaths attributed to the study medications.

Inhibrx indicated that progression-free survival outcomes from the Phase 2 segment are projected for release in Q4 2026.

The Phase 3 component of the HexAgon study is scheduled to commence patient enrollment during Q3 2026.

Cardano price continued pushing higher on Monday after confirming a breakout from a multi-month falling wedge pattern, raising expectations that bulls could attempt a move toward the $0.32 level in the coming sessions.

According to data from crypto.news, Cardano (ADA) traded around $0.28 at press time on May 11 after climbing steadily from recent lows near $0.24 seen in April. The token has now reclaimed important resistance levels as broader sentiment across the crypto market improved alongside Bitcoin.

The latest ADA rally comes as several fundamental catalysts continue building around the Cardano ecosystem. Grayscale recently increased Cardano’s weighting in its Smart Contract Fund to 18.33% while reducing its Ethereum exposure, signaling growing institutional interest in the network.

At the same time, speculation surrounding a potential Cardano spot ETF has also started gaining momentum after reports suggested Grayscale could pursue a dedicated ADA-linked product later this year.

Meanwhile, Cardano developers recently rolled out a major Lace Wallet upgrade, adding multi-chain support ahead of the upcoming Van Rossem hard fork scheduled for late June. Stablecoin activity on the network has also expanded following the launch of USDCX, a privacy-focused version of USDC designed for non-EVM chains like Cardano.

On-chain activity additionally suggests larger investors continue accumulating ADA during recent consolidation phases. Recent Santiment data showed whale wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million ADA have steadily increased their positions over the past several weeks despite broader market uncertainty.

Cardano price analysis

On the daily chart, ADA has confirmed a breakout above a multi-month falling wedge pattern that had constrained price action since February. The breakout occurred after several weeks of consolidation near the lower boundary of the structure, with buyers finally pushing the price above the descending resistance trendline around the $0.26 region.

Falling wedges are generally considered bullish reversal formations, especially when price breaks above resistance alongside strengthening momentum.

The measured move derived from the height of the wedge projects a potential upside target near the $0.32 region, which also aligns closely with a previous resistance zone visible on the chart.

ADA has also reclaimed its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day simple moving averages following the breakout, a sign that short- to medium-term momentum may be shifting back in favor of buyers. However, the 200-day SMA near the $0.35 level still remains a major longer-term resistance barrier overhead.

Momentum indicators seem to show bulls have the advantage over the coming weeks. The MACD has completed a bullish crossover while the histogram continues printing expanding green bars, signaling that upward momentum is strengthening.

If bulls maintain control above the breakout zone near $0.26, ADA could attempt a move toward the intermediate resistance around $0.30 before potentially targeting the projected $0.32 level.

On the downside, failure to hold above the broken wedge resistance and the moving average cluster near $0.25–$0.26 could weaken the breakout setup and pull Cardano price back toward the lower support trendline around $0.24.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has sharply slowed its ether (ETH) purchase pace as Chairman Tom Lee signaled, following months of aggressive buying that made it the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company.

The firm bought 26,659 ether last week, worth about $63 million based on ether’s current price. That’s roughly a quarter of the average weekly haul it purchased over the past weeks.

The purchase lifted Bitmine’s holdings to over 5.2 million ETH, or around 4.31% of ether’s circulating supply, according to a Monday company update.

The update follows comments Lee made last week at Consensus 2026 in Miami, where he said BitMine may begin moderating its buying pace after one of the fastest accumulation runs in the crypto market.

The slowdown follows comments Tom Lee made last week at Consensus 2026 in Miami, where he said Bitmine was considering easing purchases as it approached its long-term goal of acquiring 5% of Ethereum’s supply.

“We have decided to slow down our pace of weekly accumulation from over 100,000 [ETH] per week,” Lee said in Monday’s statement. “Our previous pace of buys would have us reach 5% by mid-July.”

Bitmine remains one of the few major digital asset treasury firms still consistently buying crypto during the recent market downturn. Since the start of 2026, the company has acquired more than 1 million ETH, according to Lee.

The company’s total crypto and cash holdings stood at $13.4 billion. In addition to ETH, BitMine holds 201 bitcoin, $775 million in cash and equity stakes including investments in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.

Lee reiterated his view that “crypto spring” has begun, pointing to ether’s recent recovery and improving sentiment in software and growth stocks.

“If ETH closes above $2,100 at the end of May, this would be the third consecutive monthly gain — this has never been seen in a crypto bear market,” Lee said.

BitMine has also expanded its staking operations. The firm now has over 4.7 million ETH staked — more than 90% of its holdings — representing about $11.1 billion worth of assets generating staking rewards. Its MAVAN staking platform, launched earlier this year, is aimed at institutional clients as well as Bitmine’s own treasury operations.