Circle Internet Group activated the public mainnet of Arc on September 16, 2026, introducing a layer-1 blockchain built specifically for institutional stablecoin settlement and programmable payments. The network runs on USDC as its native gas token, allowing transaction costs to be denominated in dollars rather than a separate volatile asset.

Arc delivers deterministic settlement finality in under one second and maintains full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, enabling existing Solidity smart contracts to operate without changes. Circle described the platform as infrastructure for programmable money, global markets and automated economic activity.

Founding Validators Drawn From Traditional Finance

The initial validator set consists of 11 institutions operating alongside Circle itself. Participants include BlackRock, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, Galaxy, Global Payments, Intercontinental Exchange, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation and Visa.

The composition of the validator cohort focuses exclusively on established financial firms, with no independent crypto-native operators included at launch. Circle has indicated it will explore a shift from the current proof-of-authority model toward proof-of-stake by 2027 to broaden participation over time.

Jeremy Allaire separately characterized the Arc launch as the single most significant milestone for Circle since the introduction of USDC.

Token Economics and Network Features

Circle completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens in the United States. The company stated that the mint supports coordination of network security, utility and governance but does not constitute a commitment to a public token launch. Transaction fees continue to be settled solely in USDC.

Earlier fundraising for Arc raised 222 million dollars through the sale of 740 million ARC tokens at 30 cents each, establishing a fully diluted valuation of 3 billion dollars. Participants in that round included BlackRock, Andreessen Horowitz and Apollo.

Arc supports more than 20 fiat-backed stablecoins, among them USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB. Interoperability with over 20 external blockchains is provided through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol and Gateway services.

Applications and Institutional Integrations at Launch

More than 100 institutional and ecosystem partners went live with the mainnet. Decentralized finance protocols including Aave, Uniswap and Morpho have established credit and trading markets on Arc. Payment providers Rain, Thunes and Wirex, along with wallets and custody platforms such as Kraken, MetaMask, Binance Wallet, Fireblocks, Ledger and Upbit, also support the network from day one.

BlackRock intends to deploy its BUIDL tokenized fund on Arc, enabling subscription, redemption and deployment of fund assets within a single on-chain environment. Circle’s own USYC tokenized product is already available natively. DTCC plans to begin tokenization of DTC-custodied assets on Arc in the second half of 2027.

The public testnet, opened in October 2025, processed more than 700 million transactions before the mainnet transition. A private mainnet phase involving more than 100 participants preceded the public launch.

USDC, the gas token for Arc, maintains a circulating supply exceeding 74 billion dollars. The network enters a market in which competing institutional stablecoin and tokenization initiatives continue to expand, with several of Arc’s validators also maintaining positions in parallel settlement systems.