Extended, a perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) offering contracts on stocks, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies, will migrate its settlement network to Arc, the Layer 1 blockchain built by stablecoin issuer Circle for financial markets, the company announced on October 8. The transition is scheduled for the week of October 19. Trading will continue throughout the process, but users holding more than $1 in USDT or wBTC must convert those balances into USDC or cirBTC by 12:00 UTC on October 21, as neither USDT nor wBTC exists on Arc. Deposits of the two affected assets have already been disabled, while the exchange said open trading and transfers between sub-accounts will continue during the switch.

Migration Plan and Conversion Terms

Extended announced the move in a post on X on October 8, stating, "Extended is migrating its settlement network to Arc." The platform listed three improvements. On infrastructure, it said trades "settle on Arc, with sub-second finality and stablecoin-denominated fees that make costs predictable." Extended also expects the migration to unlock broader real-world asset coverage and deeper liquidity across both spot and perpetual markets.

— Extended (@extendedapp) October 8, 2026

Accounts, sub-accounts, positions, orders, history, points, and keys will carry across unchanged, so most users will not need to adjust their setups. Users with more than $1 of USDT or wBTC in a sub-account must act before the deadline, however, because neither asset will exist on the new chain. Conversions are handled in the app at a 1:1 rate into USDC or cirBTC, with Extended paying a 0.50% premium on top and charging no swap fees. The premium will be credited within 8 hours after the migration is complete. A single approval in the app covers both assets and every sub-account, so multi-account users need to approve only once.

Deposits of both USDT and wBTC were disabled as of 16:00 UTC on October 8, the day of the announcement. ETH balances will convert automatically to wETH on Arc at a 1:1 ratio, while USDC will migrate as native USDC. Vault and XVS balances, along with withdrawal rights, will be preserved through the move. All other users need to take no action.

Operational Pauses and Missed-Deadline Rules

Deposits and withdrawals will pause for roughly two hours while the migration is carried out, although transfers between sub-accounts will keep working throughout. Extended advised users to "make sure that open positions are comfortably margined" ahead of the switch, and said precise timing will be shared closer to the date.

Users who miss the deadline face account restrictions under the migration rules. Standard liquidation rules still apply, and restricted accounts cannot add margin or close positions. Affected sub-account positions will be closed at the mark price with no fee, and open orders will be cancelled. Extended will return the resulting assets to the user's login wallet on Starknet or Ethereum and cover network fees.

Arc's Design and Institutional Backing

Arc mainnet went live on September 16 with four features relevant to a trading venue: deterministic sub-second finality, gas paid in USDC — the same stablecoin into which USDT and wBTC holders are converting — EVM compatibility, and an institutional validator set. According to the announcement, existing wallets and tooling will continue to work on Arc as they do today. For Extended's users, that detail closes the loop on the conversion terms: once balances sit on Arc, trading fees and gas costs share the USDC denomination. The switch also lands roughly a month after the mainnet debut, placing the migration within the chain's first weeks of operation.

Extended is building a unified platform for trading perpetual contracts across asset classes with varied collateral. That plan, according to the exchange, requires a settlement layer built for markets and trusted by the institutions that distribute them. Arc launched with BlackRock DTCC, ICE, Visa, and Mastercard among its founding validators — a roster spanning asset management, market infrastructure, and card payments — giving the settlement layer institutional backers from day one. Whether the move delivers the broader real-world asset coverage and deeper liquidity Extended expects will only become visible once trading is settling natively on Arc.