What Happens When Public Companies Launch Tokens?

Squiffs _ & Olivia Capozzalo
November 12, 2025

gm, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

An ARC token may represent the opportunity to learn more about how the modern market processes valuations

In other news:

Lighter raises $68 million
Ethereum active validator count drops
SoFi relaunches crypto trading
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Camila Russo explores this shift with Ava Labs’ Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo and the founders of BENQI, Euler Finance, and LFJ. They unpack the strategy, the tech, and the mission to build an ecosystem that is designed for the long term.

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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$103,766	-0.19 %
Ethereum	$3,490.69	-0.19 %
XRP	$2.41	-1.62 %
BNB	$965.09	-1.49 %
Solana	$158.72	-1.99 %

Today’s Big Story

Token vs Stock: Why Should investors Own ARC in Addition to CRCL?

With DeFi entering its institutional era, analysts continue to ponder which entity will be the first to shepherd both an investable native token, and public stock.

Uniswap and Ripple have been considered frontrunners, but there’s a possibility Circle beats both to the punch, after the stablecoin issuer teased the idea of a native token for its upcoming Arc Layer 1 blockchain in its latest quarterly report.

The $22 billion company kept it simple in the report, saying:

“Circle is exploring the possibility of launching a native token on the Arc network which could foster network participation to drive adoption, further align the interests of Arc stakeholders and support the long-term growth and success of the Arc network.”

The news comes just two weeks after the Arc testnet launch, where more than 100 different “major” companies are helping to design and test the chain, according to Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Token Valuations

An ARC token could represent the opportunity to learn more about how the modern market processes valuations. Traditionally, DeFi projects and companies don’t issue public stock, but rather a token.

Critics often dub our DeFi tokens as “worthless,” with zero inherent value, despite their multi-billion dollar valuations. More often than not, the vaguely arbitrary valuations we assign to these tokens are not a result of the value of the token itself, but the perceived valuation of the underlying company or project compared to the rest of the market.

They’re priced as company shares, despite not actually being so…and that’s fine really, unless locked investors and team members are consistently crushing the price with token unlocks.

However, the impending launch of an ARC token, or Uniswap or Ripple shares, would leave investors with multiple investment avenues.

Stock vs. Token

In 2021, owning crypto tokens might have been more appealing to speculative investors. But in today’s market, it’s clear that market participants feel much more comfortable in the stock market than they do altcoins, especially after 10/10.

So if Uniswap and Ripple go public, how many UNI and XRP holders will look to rotate to the stock? And if Circle launches an ARC token, why should investors own ARC in addition to CRCL?

In a world where companies offer both stock and tokens, the tokens will need to offer something completely different — and indisputably better — than stock dividends if they expect investors to continue to bear the risk that comes with holding an altcoin.

While the opportunity to make more money is surely appealing to the teams behind these products, investors may be forced to face unexpected volatility as they reconsider the best way to maintain exposure to their favorite companies.

Squiffs, resident degen at The Defiant

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