Circle Arc blockchain launch is now official. The open Layer 1 blockchain went live with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders on day one.
Arc is purpose-built for financial markets. It also targets real-time money movement and agentic economic activity.
Why Circle Arc blockchain launch matters
Arc launches with native integration into Circle’s full-stack platform. This includes USDC, the world’s largest regulated digital dollar. USDC has more than $74 billion in circulation.
The network also launches with a founding validator cohort. These are drawn from institutions that run global finance.
“Arc is the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC,” said Jeremy Allaire. He is Circle’s Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO.
“USDC was step one,” Allaire said. “Arc is the network built for what comes next.” He added that both the agentic economy and onchain economy need infrastructure. That infrastructure must never close and must settle in under a second.
An economic operating system, not just a blockchain
Six design choices set Arc apart. First, gas is paid in dollars. Specifically, fees are paid in USDC. Therefore, no volatile native token is required.
Second, Arc offers sub-second finality. Settlement is deterministic and instant. Third, Arc offers opt-in privacy. Confidential transactions and balances with view keys are in development.
Fourth, Arc serves as a home for issuers and interoperability. It supports USDC, EURC, and tokenized real-world assets. Circle StableFX provides 24/7 cross-currency settlement.
Fifth, Arc is built for agentic economic activity. It is the first blockchain designed from genesis for AI agents. Sixth, Arc offers institutional security. Post-quantum signatures are supported today.
Money without borders and markets that never close
Circle StableFX enables 24/7 programmable FX trading. Settlement is near-instant and low-cost. Local stablecoins active or onboarding include USDC and EURC. AUDD, AUDF, BRLA, and CADD are also included. CHFAU, EURAU, GBPA, JPYC, and KRW1 are part of the group. MXNB, QCAD, SEKAU, TRYB, and ZARU also participate.
Circle Payments Network is now integrated natively into Arc. Consequently, it moves money across borders for a fraction of a cent. Settlement happens in near real time.
Aero, fomo, and Uniswap anchor Arc’s day one trading infrastructure. Circle’s USYC is a tokenized money market fund. BUIDL is a tokenized treasury fund. Private credit funds and cirBTC give these markets productive assets.
Built for agents as economic actors
Agents already perform economic tasks with Circle’s payment products. They execute trades and manage payments. They also route liquidity and execute contracts.
USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume. Since Circle Agent Stack launched in May 2026, most agent-to-agent payments settled in USDC. Arc is the first blockchain designed from genesis for this new class of participant.
Circle Agent Stack gives developers policy-controlled Agent Wallets. It also offers Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway. An emerging Agent Marketplace is also included.
Arc Portal lets people fund agent wallets. They can also set spend limits and delegate onchain tasks. AgentVM is being designed so agents can work with sensitive data.
Supported by the institutions that run global finance
Arc will have a phased rollout from its founding validator cohort. This includes BlackRock and DTCC. Galaxy, ICE, Mastercard, and MoneyGram also participate. SBI Group, Standard Chartered, and Sumitomo Corporation are included. Visa and Worldpay (now Global Payments) complete the group.
“ICE’s institutional customers are increasingly looking for ways to operate seamlessly,” said Michael Blaugrund. He is VP of Strategic Initiatives at ICE. “As a founding validator, ICE is applying our experience securing critical market infrastructure.”
“Onchain finance and the agentic economy are areas of intensive focus for SBI Group,” said Yoshitaka Kitao. He is Representative Director, Chairman, President & CEO of SBI Holdings.
More than 100 builders already live or exploring
Around the validator core, more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders are active. Global banks include BNY, BTG Pactual, HSBC, and Lead Bank. Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, and State Street also have access.
Asset managers include Bitwise, BlackRock, Dinari, and Janus Henderson. New York Life Investment Management is partnering with Centrifuge. Maple, Matrixdock, ProShares, and xStocks by Payward are also working to bring products onchain.
Global payments firms include Digital Garage, Global Payments, and JCB. Mastercard, MoneyGram, Thunes, and Visa will enable internet-scale settlement.
Digital asset exchanges include Binance, Bitso, Bitvavo, and Bybit. Coinbase, Gate, Kraken, and KuCoin are also involved. MEXC, OKX, OSL, Upbit, and Wenia give users seamless access.
Custody providers include Anchorage, BitGo, Ceffu, and Copper. Fireblocks and Zodia Custody deliver institutional-grade custody.
Onchain trading protocols include 1inch, Aero, Bankr, and Dinari. Doppler, edgeX, Extended, and fomo also participate. Hibachi, LI.FI, o1.exchange, and pools.trade expand access. Pump.fun, Robinhood, and Uniswap are included.
Aave and Morpho anchor Arc’s onchain credit markets. Bitwise, Cumberland, Dialectic, and Galaxy support the ecosystem. Gauntlet, Keyrock, and Steakhouse Financial also contribute.
Digital wallets include Binance Wallet, Bitget Wallet, and Gate Web3. KuCoin Web3, Ledger, MetaMask, and OKX Wallet are also included. Phantom, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet put Arc’s markets within reach of millions.
Ecosystem infrastructure includes Alchemy, BCW, Blockdaemon, and Chainlink. Figment, Kaleido, and Quicknode power the developer layer.
“Aave has worked with Circle for years,” said Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave Labs. “We’re doubling down on the Circle ecosystem with a new Aave V4 market on Arc.”
“Arc brings together the speed, stablecoin-native infrastructure, and institutional participation needed,” said Merlin Egalite, Co-Founder of Morpho.
Developer community and new tools
Arc’s global developer community includes more than 75,000 active Arc House members. It also includes 10,000 Architect ambassadors. They have built more than 1,200 projects on Arc.
Its testnet processed more than 700 million transactions in under a year. Arc is fully EVM-compatible. Therefore, existing Solidity contracts and developer tools work on day one.
Circle is releasing two new tools for builders. Arc Studio is an onchain coding agent. It takes ideas to implementation faster. Arc App Kits is a unified SDK for core onchain fund flows.
The road ahead
Mainnet is the start of a roadmap centered on proof of stake, privacy, and scalability. Network Sectors will provide purpose-built environments. A Privacy Sector will handle confidential transactions. A Payment Sector targets more than 100,000 transactions per second. An Agent Sector will support verifiable agent identity.
Circle completed the genesis mint of the ARC token this week. It created the full initial supply of 10 billion tokens. This makes Circle the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new Layer 1. ARC is designed to serve as a digital commodity. Network fees remain payable in USDC nevertheless.
This initial mint is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC. It is a technical milestone. The network will explore a transition from Proof of Authority toward Proof of Stake in 2027.
Arc supports post-quantum signatures today. Broader post-quantum protections are in development.
