Circle Internet Group launched the mainnet for Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for financial markets and real-time money movement, on September 16, 2026. The network went live with over 100 institutional and ecosystem participants on day one, including major financial infrastructure providers such as BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, and DTCC. Arc integrates USDC, Circle’s regulated digital dollar with $74 billion in circulation, and marks what the company describes as its most significant launch since USDC’s introduction.
- Native Fee Currency: Gas paid in USDC with no volatile native token required
- Settlement Speed: Sub-second finality with deterministic, instant settlement
- Privacy: Opt-in confidential transactions and balances with view keys
- Cross-Border Capability: Circle StableFX supports 24/7 programmable FX trading across 22+ local stablecoins
- Security: Post-quantum signatures supported and consensus built to financial market standards
Arc is the network built for what comes next. The agentic economy and the onchain economy are not two different revolutions; they are the same economy seen from two sides, and both need infrastructure that never closes, settles in under a second, and is trusted by the institutions that anchor the global financial system.
Arc differs from existing blockchains by treating the network as an economic operating system rather than a standalone blockchain. The platform natively supports USDC, EURC, and tokenized real-world assets, with Circle Payments Network enabling near-instantaneous cross-border settlement. Day-one trading infrastructure includes decentralized exchanges Aero, Fomo, and Uniswap, alongside institutional-grade assets such as USYC (tokenized money market fund) and BUIDL (tokenized treasury fund).
The network specifically targets artificial intelligence agents as economic participants. Since Circle Agent Stack launched in May 2026, USDC has accounted for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume, with the majority settling over the x402 standard. Arc Portal enables users to fund agent wallets, set spending limits, and delegate onchain tasks with full visibility. The founding validator cohort includes BlackRock, ICE, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, and Global Payments, providing the institutional backing required for regulated financial use cases, including treasury management, trading, and confidential payments.
