Circle launches Arc blockchain for AI agents and stablecoins

Circle has launched Arc, a Layer-1 blockchain specifically designed to support stablecoins and AI agents. Unlike traditional networks, Arc utilizes USDC as its native gas token to eliminate transaction fee volatility. The network features the Malachite consensus engine, which provides sub-second deterministic finality. To support machine-led economic activity, Circle introduced the Agent Stack, offering AI agents tools for provenance proofs, reputation systems, and nanopayments.

The project has significant institutional backing, with BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard serving as validators. A private presale of 740 million tokens at $0.30 each valued the project at approximately $3 billion.

On the ecosystem side, the Argus launchpad deployed its contract stack during Arc’s private deployment window prior to the public mainnet launch on September 16, 2026. The $ARGUS token saw a significant market cap increase, reaching approximately $30 million. Argus utilizes a model where the entire 1 billion token supply enters a single Uniswap v4 liquidity position, and creators can set buy and sell taxes to distribute revenue in USDC to holders and liquidity pools.