#layer-1 - the daily grind

BREAKING

May 11For 18 Months, Any Miner Could Have Crashed Bitcoin's Network. 43% of Nodes Still Haven't Patched.●May 11Circle Built a Blockchain Where Gas Fees Cost Dollars — BlackRock & a16z Just Paid $222M to Get In●May 10Wall Street Built a VIX for Bitcoin — And It Goes Live June 1●May 10Congress Banned Stablecoin Yield. BlackRock Just Filed Two Funds That Give It Back.●May 9In 48 Hours, Kraken Dropped $600M and Applied to Become a Federal Bank●May 9Tether Froze $515 Million in USDT Last Month — Using a Kill Switch You Didn't Know Existed●May 8Oil Crossed $100 Last Night and Crypto Just Lost $300 Million●May 8The Hottest Job in Crypto Didn't Exist a Year Ago: Meet the AI Agent Manager●May 7Coinbase Fired 700 People and the CEO Says Your Company Is Next●May 7Someone Sent Grok a Morse Code Tweet — Then Walked Away With $175K in Crypto●May 11For 18 Months, Any Miner Could Have Crashed Bitcoin's Network. 43% of Nodes Still Haven't Patched.●May 11Circle Built a Blockchain Where Gas Fees Cost Dollars — BlackRock & a16z Just Paid $222M to Get In●May 10Wall Street Built a VIX for Bitcoin — And It Goes Live June 1●May 10Congress Banned Stablecoin Yield. BlackRock Just Filed Two Funds That Give It Back.●May 9In 48 Hours, Kraken Dropped $600M and Applied to Become a Federal Bank●May 9Tether Froze $515 Million in USDT Last Month — Using a Kill Switch You Didn't Know Existed●May 8Oil Crossed $100 Last Night and Crypto Just Lost $300 Million●May 8The Hottest Job in Crypto Didn't Exist a Year Ago: Meet the AI Agent Manager●May 7Coinbase Fired 700 People and the CEO Says Your Company Is Next●May 7Someone Sent Grok a Morse Code Tweet — Then Walked Away With $175K in Crypto●

BTC -- --%

ETH -- --%

Fear & Greed F&G 48 Neutral

#layer-1

1 post

Circle Built a Blockchain Where Gas Fees Cost Dollars — BlackRock & a16z Just Paid $222M to Get In

May 11, 2026 · 5 min read

Circle raised $222M from BlackRock, a16z, and Apollo for Arc, a Layer 1 where USDC is the native gas token. $3B valuation, 100+ institution testnet, and a direct shot at Ethereum's institutional market.