Circle put its stablecoin-focused Layer 1 blockchain Arc into production on September 16, launching the public mainnet with USDC-denominated transaction fees, sub-second finality and more than 100 applications live from day one.

The network is designed for financial markets, real-time payments, foreign exchange, tokenized assets and automated transactions involving AI agents. It now moves beyond a private mainnet phase, which included more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders, into a public environment open to developers and users — shifting the test from controlled pilots to performance under open, live conditions.

USDC Pays Gas Across Arc

Arc uses USDC as its gas asset, so transaction fees stay dollar-denominated and users do not need to acquire a separate volatile token. The consensus design delivers deterministic sub-second settlement, and the network remains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and existing Solidity tooling. For teams moving dollar balances, that means network costs land in the same unit as the value being settled, without a separate treasury position to cover fees.

Circle has built USDC, EURC, the Circle Payments Network and its broader stablecoin infrastructure directly into Arc. StableFX adds 24/7 programmable foreign-exchange settlement across supported stablecoins, while tokenized assets such as Circle's USYC and BlackRock's BUIDL round out the initial financial ecosystem.

Aero, fomo and Uniswap are providing day-one trading infrastructure, and Aave and Morpho are launching lending markets. Pump.fun, Robinhood, 1inch and Hibachi are among the other trading and liquidity platforms working with the network.

The rollout follows a $222 million ARC presale earlier this year as Circle moved deeper into the execution layer supporting stablecoin payments and tokenized finance.

BlackRock, DTCC and Card Networks Among Arc's Validators

Arc launches with a permissioned validator cohort drawn heavily from traditional finance. BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, Visa and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, are participating alongside Circle in the network rollout. Taken together, the cohort spans asset management, market infrastructure, banking and card payments — the same categories of firms that anchor today's payment and settlement rails.

Banks and financial institutions building around Arc include BNY, HSBC, Societe Generale, State Street and Standard Chartered, while asset managers and tokenization providers include BlackRock, Bitwise, Janus Henderson, ProShares, Centrifuge and xStocks.

The public launch follows more than 700 million transactions on Arc's testnet in under a year. Circle said developers have built more than 1,200 projects across the ecosystem, and wallets including MetaMask, Phantom, Ledger, Rainbow and Trust Wallet support access to the network.

Circle Mints 10 Billion ARC Tokens

Circle also completed the genesis mint of ARC this week, creating the token's full initial supply of 10 billion units. ARC is designed to coordinate network security, governance and utility as Arc moves toward a planned proof-of-stake model, while transaction fees remain payable in USDC rather than ARC.

Arc currently operates through its permissioned validator structure, with Circle targeting a transition from proof of authority to proof of stake in 2027. Public distribution of the newly minted ARC supply has not been scheduled, leaving the 2027 consensus shift and any distribution timeline as the two milestones that will define how the token's role develops.

Circle announced the mainnet launch in an official press release and outlined its founding validator cohort in a separate announcement. Additional details on the token are available in the ARC token whitepaper.

Source: Crypto Adventure