Circle launched the public mainnet of Arc, its USDC-powered Layer-1 blockchain, on September 16, 2026. Network fees are paid in USDC rather than a native gas token, and the chain went live with a founding validator cohort that includes BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard and DTCC.
Background: how Arc was built
Arc did not appear overnight. According to The Crypto Times, Circle first announced the network on August 12, 2025, opened a public testnet on October 28, 2025, and named its founding validator cohort on August 5, 2026 before reaching public mainnet on September 16, 2026. The Crypto Times described Arc’s Malachite consensus as a Byzantine-fault-tolerant, Tendermint-family design and said the chain is EVM-compatible with transaction fees modeled on Ethereum’s EIP-1559 mechanism, so developers can reuse familiar Ethereum tooling while users pay in USDC. crypto.news reported that, ahead of the public launch, Circle had sold 807.5 million ARC tokens privately to institutional investors at $0.30 each, raising roughly $242.2 million — though the company stresses no ARC token has been launched for the public and network fees remain payable in USDC.
What is Arc and how does it work?
According to crypto.news and The Crypto Times, Arc is a Layer-1 blockchain that uses USDC as its native gas asset, so transaction fees are denominated and paid in the stablecoin rather than in a separate volatile token. The Crypto Times reported that the network delivers “deterministic sub-second finality” through its Malachite consensus engine, meaning transactions are intended to settle in under a second. In Circle’s own announcement, the company described Arc as running a founding-validator model in which the network is “secured by the institutions building on it.”
Paying fees in USDC is the design feature that most distinguishes Arc from general-purpose blockchains, where users typically need to hold a separate native token to transact. Circle has positioned the chain as infrastructure aimed at institutional finance and real-time money movement, with sub-second settlement intended to make it suitable for payments and trading rather than purely experimental use.
Which institutions are validators?
Circle’s pressroom and The Crypto Times named a founding validator cohort that, alongside Circle, includes BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation and Visa. The Crypto Times described the launch set-up as a permissioned Proof-of-Authority validator cohort, in which a defined set of approved operators validates transactions rather than an open, permissionless network.
The presence of asset managers, card networks, exchanges and market-infrastructure firms in the validator set is central to how Circle is pitching Arc to institutional users that require known, accountable counterparties.
What assets are supported at launch?
crypto.news reported that Arc supports 22 fiat-linked stablecoins. The Crypto Times said tokenized products available to eligible users include BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, Circle’s USYC, Janus Henderson’s JAAA and JTRSY, and cirBTC, Circle’s programmable Bitcoin product. Circle also pointed to StableFX, which it said enables “24/7 onchain foreign exchange among fully reserved stablecoins,” allowing round-the-clock currency conversion between backed stablecoins.
Is there an ARC token?
Not for the public, at least not yet. The Crypto Times reported that Circle completed a genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens in the United States but described the step as “a technical milestone, not a commitment to a public token launch.” Network fees remain payable in USDC, and the company said no ARC token has been launched for public distribution. Circle characterized discussion of any future ARC utility as exploratory, with no decisions finalized.
Why does Arc matter?
The launch brings several of the largest names in traditional finance and payments onto a single stablecoin-native network. Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire was quoted by The Crypto Times saying, “USDC was step one. Arc is the network built for what comes next.” Circle’s announcement also flagged a collaboration with DTCC to enable tokenization of DTC-custodied assets beginning in the second half of 2027, pointing to a longer roadmap for moving traditional securities on-chain.
What was the timeline, and who is building on it?
According to The Crypto Times, Arc was first announced on August 12, 2025, launched a public testnet on October 28, 2025, named its founding validator cohort on August 5, 2026, and reached public mainnet on September 16, 2026. Circle said day-one availability spanned DeFi protocols such as Aave, Uniswap and Morpho, payment providers including Rain, Thunes and Wirex, and access points such as Binance Wallet, Kraken and Ledger. Circle’s pressroom said more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders had participated during the network’s earlier private-mainnet phase.
Why it matters
Arc’s significance lies in bringing several of the largest names in traditional finance onto a single stablecoin-native network under a permissioned, Proof-of-Authority model in which validators are known, accountable institutions. For institutional users that need identifiable counterparties and predictable settlement, a chain offering “deterministic sub-second finality” and fees paid in USDC removes two frictions of general-purpose blockchains: volatile gas tokens and probabilistic confirmation times. The presence of asset managers, card networks, exchanges and market-infrastructure firms in the validator set — and tokenized products such as BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC available at launch — signals that the chain is aimed at real-world finance and money movement rather than speculative activity. StableFX’s 24/7 on-chain foreign exchange among fully reserved stablecoins points to round-the-clock settlement use cases.
What to watch next
The clearest dated item on Arc’s roadmap is Circle’s planned collaboration with DTCC to enable tokenization of DTC-custodied assets, which Circle said would begin in the second half of 2027. Separately, crypto.news reported that Circle is exploring a potential transition from Proof-of-Authority to Proof-of-Stake consensus in 2027, which would change how the network is secured; the company has framed that as exploratory rather than committed. Circle has also characterized any future utility for the ARC token as undecided, so whether a public token ever launches is an open question rather than a plan. For now, observers can watch how quickly the more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders Circle cited from the private-mainnet phase move live activity onto the chain.
Sources
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Elena Petrova is STnews's Regulation Correspondent, reporting on MiCA, SEC and CFTC actions, the FATF travel rule and AML/KYC developments across digital-asset markets. Her coverage adheres to STnews's editorial standards — primary-sourced, cited, and non-advisory.
Conflicts of interest
I have no current legal practice or retainer relationships with any cryptocurrency company. Past employment relationships are listed publicly.
