Circle Mints ARC Token on Its Arc Blockchain, a First Among Publicly Traded Companies
Key Takeaways
- •Circle has minted the ARC token on its Arc blockchain, becoming, according to the company, the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new blockchain.
- •The minting comes as Arc explores a potential transition from its current Proof of Authority consensus model to Proof of Stake.
- •ARC currently has no active function and is not live, tradeable, or available for staking, governance, or transaction fees.
- •The Arc blockchain is already operating with roughly 100 applications, including Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap, as well as tokenized funds such as BlackRock's BUIDL and Circle's USYC.
- •The official ARC contract is recorded on the Arc blockchain explorer, where the minting can be independently verified.
Circle, the New York Stock Exchange-listed issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has minted the ARC token for its Arc blockchain, marking a technical milestone as the network explores a potential transition from its current Proof of Authority consensus model to Proof of Stake. Minting places a token on-chain in verifiable form, but on its own it assigns no function — a distinction that sits at the center of this milestone.
According to the company, the move makes Circle the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new blockchain, a step that places an exchange-listed issuer in territory more commonly associated with crypto-native projects.
Proof of Authority networks restrict block production to a fixed set of approved validators, while Proof of Stake designs use token staking to secure the network and process transactions. In practice, the consensus model determines who can produce blocks and how the network is secured, which makes the choice between the two a defining feature of how Arc operates.
The minting, however, does not signal a public launch of ARC. The Arc blockchain went live with a select group of roughly 100 applications alongside institutional and ecosystem builders. Circle has described Arc as a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin-based financial activity. In other words, the network's application layer is already live while its native token remains dormant.
BitKE detailed the lineup of participants in a post shared on X:
The #ARC blockchain is live with a select group of #institutional players that include: @aave, @Morpho, and @Uniswap are among ~100 protocols available, while @BlackRock's #BUIDL and @circle's #USYC are among the tokenized funds being brought onto the chain. Details:…
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) September 18, 2026
Despite the milestone, ARC is not currently live, tradeable, or available for public use, and the token is not active for staking, governance, transaction fees, or any other utility. Arc remains a Proof of Authority network, and any future activation functionality for ARC remains subject to change. For observers, the meaningful signals ahead are any formal consensus-model transition and any on-chain activation of the token's stated functions, each of which would be verifiable through official channels and the network's own tooling.
The official ARC contract is recorded on the Arc blockchain explorer, where the minting can be verified.
