Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has officially launched the public mainnet for its Arc Layer 1 blockchain infrastructure. Built specifically for financial markets, payments, and AI-powered economic activity, the protocol debuts with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem participants.
A key feature of the new network is the integration of USDC as the primary gas token. Unlike most Layer 1 networks that rely on a volatile native cryptocurrency for fees, Arc allows users to pay transaction fees directly with USDC, providing fee predictability. The network offers sub-second finality and supports assets including USDC, EURC, and tokenized real-world assets.
The platform's founding validators include major financial institutions such as BlackRock, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, Galaxy, ICE, DTCC, and MoneyGram. Prominent cryptocurrency companies including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit, Aave, Morpho, Uniswap, and MetaMask are also participating as ecosystem partners.
Circle additionally revealed that it minted the full initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens earlier in the week, though the company noted this does not confirm an immediate public token launch. The ARC token is ultimately intended to support network security, utility, and governance, coming into prominence as Arc explores a transition from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake in 2027.
