TLDR
- Circle’s Arc mainnet launched Wednesday, a Layer 1 blockchain using USDC as its native gas token
- Founding validators include BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, Mastercard, Standard Chartered and others
- Arc supports 20+ fiat stablecoins and connects to 20+ blockchains via Circle’s CCTP protocol
- Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens but says this is not a commitment to a public token launch
- Arc previously raised $222 million in a token presale at a $3 billion valuation
Circle’s Arc mainnet went live Wednesday, marking what CEO Jeremy Allaire called “the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC itself.”
LATEST: ⚡️ Circle launched the Arc mainnet, its new L1 blockchain designed for financial markets and the AI agent economy, with BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, and the DTCC serving as founding validators. pic.twitter.com/m4hI9MDBnc
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) September 16, 2026
Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain built for stablecoin payments, trading and agentic transactions. USDC, which currently has around $74 billion in circulation, serves as the network’s native gas token.
The chain is EVM-compatible and offers deterministic sub-second settlement finality. That combination is designed to attract developers and institutions looking for fast, stablecoin-native infrastructure.
Arc launched with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem partners on day one. Founding validators include BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), ICE, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Sumitomo, Worldpay and Galaxy.
The validator set is permissioned. Circle frames this as a feature, saying it gives banks a defined governance structure for using a public chain for treasury operations, trading and confidential payments.
Who Has Access
BNY, HSBC, Societe Generale and State Street are among the banks with access to Arc. On the DeFi side, Aave and Morpho handle lending, while Uniswap, Aero and FOMO provide trading.
Exchanges including Binance, Kraken, Bybit and OKX offer entry points into the network, with Coinbase set to follow. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Circle’s own USYC token provide tokenized collateral on the chain.
Arc supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB. It also connects to more than 20 other blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway.
USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume on the network, according to Circle, citing Dune analytics data.
ARC Token
Circle completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens this week. The company noted this makes it the first publicly traded firm to mint a network token for a new Layer 1.
However, Circle was clear that the mint “is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC.” The token mint is described as a technical step toward a potential move from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake consensus in 2027.
Circle had previously raised $222 million in an Arc token presale at a $3 billion valuation.
Arc’s public testnet launched in October 2025, with BlackRock and Visa among the early participants. The testnet processed more than 700 million transactions in under a year.
Arc ships with agent wallets, spending limits and nanopayments built in. The network also supports optional post-quantum signatures, with broader protections still in development.
More than 100 companies participated in Arc’s private mainnet ahead of Wednesday’s public launch.
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