Circle has launched the mainnet of Arc, a layer-1 (L1) blockchain targeting stablecoin payments and financial markets, with a particular emphasis on agentic transactions — on-chain activity executed by automated software agents.

Arc uses USDC, the stablecoin Circle issues, as its native gas asset, meaning transaction fees on the network are paid in the dollar-pegged token itself rather than a separate dedicated coin, as is the case on most major blockchains. The network also offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, which allows applications built for Ethereum to run on Arc, and deterministic sub-second settlement finality, meaning transactions become irrevocably settled within a fixed, sub-second window, according to an Arc blog post published Wednesday. The launch was also announced in a company press release.

The launch places Circle in the dual role of stablecoin issuer and network operator. The network supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB — spanning the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, Korean won and Turkish lira — while tokenized assets, blockchain-based representations of traditional financial instruments, including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC, are available natively on Arc. Arc also offers interoperability with more than 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway, the company’s tools for moving assets between networks.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc “the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC itself.”

Separately, Circle said in a post on X that Arc was built for “programmable money, global markets, and agentic economic activity,” describing the network as stablecoin-native infrastructure for developers and institutions.

The mainnet launch follows Arc’s public testnet debut in October 2025, when Circle said more than 100 companies were participating, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Visa. In August, Circle said more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders had taken part in Arc’s private mainnet ahead of the public launch.

Arc said it ultimately plans to broaden participation in network operations and explore a transition from Proof of Authority — a consensus model in which a limited set of approved validators run the network — to Proof of Stake in 2027.

Circle also completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens this week, though it said the mint does not represent a commitment to launch the token publicly, leaving the token’s eventual role on the network unspecified.

Source: Cointelegraph