Circle launches Arc blockchain for financial markets

Circle has launched Arc, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for financial markets. The mainnet went live on September 16, 2026, utilizing USDC as the native gas and settlement asset to avoid the volatility of a native token.

At launch, Circle deployed $649 million in USDC and $7 million in EURC onto the network. The ecosystem includes over 100 participants, with initial validators and partners including major financial institutions such as BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, Galaxy, ICE, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Worldpay.

The platform features sub-second transaction finality and low target fees of approximately $0.01. The ARC token, which has a $3 billion fully diluted valuation, was minted with 10 billion tokens distributed among an ecosystem development fund (60%), Circle (25%), and long-term reserves (15%). While the network currently runs on USDC, Circle plans to transition Arc to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2027, at which point ARC tokens will be used for network validation.