Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Circle launched Arc’s public mainnet with more than 100 applications.
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Aave V4, Morpho, and Uniswap are available on the network from launch.
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Arc uses USDC for gas, offers sub-second finality and supports Solidity contracts.
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Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens but has not committed to a public token launch.
Circle has launched the public mainnet of Arc, its Layer 1 blockchain designed for stablecoin payments, tokenized assets, and institutional financial activity.
More than 100 applications are available at launch, including Aave V4, Morpho and Uniswap. Circle said over 100 institutional and ecosystem developers are participating in the network.
Arc uses USDC for transaction fees, supports sub-second finality, and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing developers to deploy existing Solidity smart contracts.
Arc Testnet Processed 700 Million Transactions
Circle launched Arc’s public testnet in October 2025. The company said the network processed more than 700 million transactions before Wednesday’s mainnet release.
Using USDC as the native gas currency gives transaction costs a dollar-denominated value, potentially making fees more predictable than on networks where users pay with volatile native tokens.
Arc’s EVM compatibility also reduces migration barriers for Ethereum developers. Existing Solidity contracts can work on the network without requiring applications to be rebuilt in a different programming language.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire described Arc as the company’s most important launch since USDC, positioning the blockchain as infrastructure for both the onchain economy and transactions initiated by AI agents.
BlackRock and Visa Join Arc Validator Group
Circle previously named 11 institutions as Arc’s founding validators, which will join the network in phases.
The group includes BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Intercontinental Exchange, Mastercard and Visa.
ICE Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund said institutional customers had identified transaction fees and settlement delays as obstacles to adopting blockchain infrastructure. Arc aims to address those concerns through predictable fees and near-instant finality.
Circle and DTCC also plan to support the tokenization of assets held in DTC custody on Arc beginning in the second half of 2027.
Circle Mints 10 Billion ARC Tokens
Circle minted the entire initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens in the United States this week.
However, the company said the minting was a technical milestone and did not represent a commitment to release the tokens publicly.
Circle is exploring a transition from Arc’s current proof-of-authority model to proof-of-stake in 2027. Under the proposed structure, ARC would coordinate network security, utility, and governance.
USDC would remain Arc’s transaction-fee currency even if ARC becomes publicly available.
Circle has integrated its payments network and StableFX service into Arc. StableFX supports continuous currency trading and settlement using stablecoins such as USDC, EURC, GBPA, JPYC and KRW1.
Tokenized funds, including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC, are also available for trading, lending and collateral use.
These integrations position Arc as infrastructure for payments, foreign-exchange settlement and tokenized capital markets rather than solely as a general-purpose smart-contract blockchain.
Privacy and AI Tools Remain in Development
Circle has not yet released its planned opt-in privacy system. The company is developing confidential transactions and private balances with view keys that authorized parties can use for compliance and auditing.
The feature is intended to help banks, asset managers, and enterprises conduct sensitive payments and trading activities on a public blockchain.
Arc’s mainnet launch includes two development products. Arc Studio is an AI coding agent that generates smart contracts and application code, while Arc App Kits provides software components for payments, swaps, onramps and yield products.
Circle is also developing AgentVM, a protected environment where AI agents could work with sensitive data. Its longer-term roadmap includes a dedicated payments system targeting more than 100,000 transactions per second and wider post-quantum security protections.
