Circle Arc mainnet launches with USDC gas

Circle has launched the public mainnet of Arc on Sept. 16, bringing its USDC-powered Layer 1 blockchain online with institutional validators, more than 20 fiat stablecoins and tokenized funds available from launch.

Circle said in itsofficial Arc mainnet announcement that the network uses USDC as its native gas asset, provides deterministic settlement in under one second and supports Ethereum Virtual Machine applications, allowing developers to use Solidity contracts and familiar Ethereum development tools.

The public opening follows an Arc testnet that processed more than 700 million transactions, according to Circle’s launch announcement. Circle’s second-quarter SEC filing had recorded 502 million cumulative testnet transactions and 2.8 million transacting wallets as of June 30, showing that activity continued climbing before the September launch.

Arc Mainnet is live.

Built for programmable money, global markets, and agentic economic activity, Arc brings stablecoin-native infrastructure to builders and institutions from day one.

Explore what’s live on Arc: https://t.co/2dpsrq6vW3 pic.twitter.com/KzWq7sM8Bg

— Circle (@circle) September 16, 2026

Circle Arc mainnet uses USDC for transaction fees

Arc’s fee design removes the need for users to hold a separate volatile network asset to submit ordinary transactions. Fees are denominated and paid in USDC, while Arc’s gas documentation says the network is designed to keep costs predictable as transaction demand changes.

The network pairs that model with deterministic sub-second finality. Once Arc finalizes a transaction, the network design does not rely on the probabilistic confirmation periods associated with some other blockchain systems. Arc is running under a permissioned Proof-of-Authority model at launch.

EVM compatibility gives developers access to Ethereum-based tooling without requiring them to rewrite Solidity applications for a separate programming environment. Arc’s mainnet uses chain ID 5042, while USDC functions as its native currency for gas accounting.

Circle has connected Arc with Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol and Circle Gateway, extending asset movement and liquidity access across more than 20 supported blockchain networks. The company says developers can use burn-and-mint and lock-and-mint infrastructure to distribute supported assets between Arc and other chains.

As crypto.news previously reported, Arc combines an EVM execution environment with a stablecoin-denominated fee model and institutional validator structure.

Circle’s Q2 2026 filing with the SEC confirms that the private mainnet started in May. More than 100 partners were participating by July 20 across payments, capital markets, digital assets and technology.

BlackRock, Visa and DTCC join the validator cohort

Arc begins public operations with Circle and 11 named institutional founding validators.

Circle’s founding validator announcement identified BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, Visa and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments.

BlackRock’s digital-assets head Robbie Mitchnick said purpose-built networks can serve specific financial-market uses and stated that Arc “appears clearly well positioned to serve stablecoin and payment use cases at scale.” The statement represents BlackRock’s assessment of the network, not a guarantee of adoption.

Banks working with or building around Arc include BNY, BTG Pactual, HSBC, Lead Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and State Street, according to the Arc mainnet ecosystem announcement.

Payment firms named in the same launch materials include Mastercard, MoneyGram, Visa, JCB, Global Payments and Thunes.

Crypto.news reported on Circle’s institutional Arc rollout and validator plans, including the involvement of major financial and payments companies.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire described Arc as the company’s most important product introduction since USDC and said, “USDC was step one. Arc is the network built for what comes next.” His statement describes Circle’s strategy and does not guarantee future network adoption.

More than 20 stablecoins and tokenized funds are available

Arc’s day-one asset list includes 22 fiat-linked stablecoins: USDC, EURC, AUDD, AUDF, BRLA, CADD, CHFAU, EURAU, GBPA, JPYC, KRW1, MXNB, QCAD, SEKAU, TRYB, wARS, wBRL, wCLP, wCOP, wMXN, wPEN and ZARU.

Circle StableFX is live on Arc for programmable foreign-exchange activity across more than 20 fully reserved stablecoins. Circle says the service uses atomic payment-versus-payment settlement, while participating market makers provide FX liquidity.

Tokenized financial products available natively include BlackRock’s BUIDL, tokenized by Securitize; Circle’s USYC; and Janus Henderson’s JAAA and JTRSY products. Circle states that these assets can interact with lending, trading and collateral markets available through Arc applications.

Access restrictions still apply to individual products. Circle specifically states that USYC is available only to non-U.S. persons under its Securities Act definition, with further eligibility restrictions possible. Arc’s existence does not remove those product-level requirements.

Circle introduced cirBTC on Arc as a programmable representation of Bitcoin. The company says cirBTC can be converted 1:1 from BTC, cbBTC or WBTC without conversion fees and is intended for collateral and liquidity applications.

On the application side, Aave and Morpho are supporting Arc’s lending markets from launch. Aero and Uniswap provide trading infrastructure, while Circle named a longer group of applications covering swaps, perpetual trading, NFTs and cross-chain execution.

Binance, Bybit, Kraken, KuCoin, OKX, Upbit and several other exchanges are listed by Arc as live access points. Circle said Coinbase is expected to become available later, making its status different from the exchanges described as live on launch day.

Agent wallets and developer tools arrive on day one

Circle has placed automated software transactions near the center of Arc’s product design. Circle Agent Stack provides policy-controlled wallets and USDC nanopayments, while Arc Portal allows users to create agent wallets, specify spending limits and authorize defined financial tasks. Arc Studio uses natural-language prompts to generate application components and smart contracts for deployment on the network.

Circle’s launch release cited Dune data showing USDC accounted for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume measured in the referenced dataset. The figure relates to the cited agent-payment activity and should not be interpreted as USDC’s share of every autonomous software payment globally.

Arc App Kits provide packaged software components for applications. Onramp Kit supports fiat-to-USDC funding through methods including debit cards and Apple Pay, while Earn Kit connects applications to lending opportunities such as Morpho without requiring users to leave the original interface. Privacy, however, is not fully deployed across the network. Circle’s launch release describesopt-in privacy as “in development for network-wide release.”

Circle has proposed confidential smart-contract infrastructure intended for institutional applications. Circle’s current disclaimer says the scope, functionality and rollout schedule can still be changed, delayed or discontinued.

Arc supports optional post-quantum signatures today, according to Circle, while further protections remain under development. Circle cautions that quantum-resistant cryptography remains an evolving research area and does not guarantee future immunity from security threats.

Circle minted 10 billion ARC but public launch remains undecided

Circle completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens in the United States during launch week, creating the network’s planned initial supply. Network transaction fees continue to be payable in USDC. TheARC token whitepaper describes the token as a potential coordination asset for network security, governance and other functions if Arc moves from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake.

Circle currently points to 2027 for exploring that transition, but its launch documents make clear that the timing and final design remain subject to change. Circle states that the genesis mint “is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC.” Its Arc launch post separately says “No ARC token has been launched,” referring to public availability.

Public availability should be distinguished from Circle’s existing private token-sale agreements.

The company’sJune 30 Form 10-Q says Circle had agreed to sell 807.5 million ARC tokens to institutional investors at $0.30 each, producing approximately $242.2 million in gross contracted proceeds.

Circle had received $222 million by June 30 and booked the presale proceeds as deferred revenue. The private sale implied a $3 billion fully diluted network valuation, according to the same SEC filing.

The initial $222 million round involved investors including a16z crypto, BlackRock, Apollo Funds, ARK Invest, ICE, Janus Henderson and Standard Chartered Ventures. Circle’s subsequent SEC disclosure states that purchasers face lockups lasting at least one year after Arc transitions to Proof of Stake or delegated Proof of Stake, with further transfer restrictions potentially extending until four years after that transition.