Circle Launches Arc Mainnet with USDC as Native Gas Token

Circle has officially launched the mainnet of Arc, a new layer-1 blockchain designed to serve as stablecoin-native infrastructure for payments, financial markets, and agentic transactions. According to a blog post published Wednesday, Arc uses USDC as its native gas asset, offers full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, and delivers deterministic sub-second settlement finality. CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc "the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself," underscoring the project's strategic importance to the stablecoin issuer.

The network supports more than 20 fiat-pegged stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1, and TRYB, alongside tokenized assets such as BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized fund and Circle's own USYC. Arc also connects to over 20 external blockchains through Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway, positioning it as a hub for cross-chain stablecoin liquidity. Circle said the infrastructure was built for "programmable money, global markets, and agentic economic activity," targeting developers and institutions building the next generation of financial applications.

Arc's public launch follows a testnet debut in October 2025 that drew participation from more than 100 companies, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, and Visa. Circle confirmed in August that over 100 institutional and ecosystem builders had also tested the network during a private mainnet phase. The project plans to broaden participation in network operations over time and is exploring a transition from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake by 2027. Separately, Circle completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens this week, though the company clarified that the mint does not signal an imminent public token launch.