Circle Internet Group (CRCL) launched the mainnet for its Arc Layer 1 blockchain on Wednesday, with a fresh Aave V4 lending market, Morpho, and Uniswap available right from day one.
In an official announcement provided to The Block, Circle reported that more than 100 applications are live at launch, backed by participation from over 100 institutional and ecosystem developers.
Arc debuted its public testnet back in October 2025, processing upwards of 700 million transactions in under a year, according to Circle. On the mainnet, network participants cover gas fees using USDC, benefiting from sub-second transaction settlement times. Furthermore, the blockchain is EVM-compatible, meaning pre-existing Solidity smart contracts run seamlessly on Arc.
"Arc represents the single most monumental rollout in Circle’s history since the creation of USDC itself, bringing to life the foundational thesis we have pursued for thirteen years: money ought to function the exact same way the internet functions," remarked CEO Jeremy Allaire. "USDC was phase one, whereas Arc is the network engineered for everything that follows. The autonomous agent economy and the onchain economy are not two separate revolutions; rather, they are identical economic systems viewed from opposite angles, and both demand infrastructure that operates continuously, settles in less than a second, and commands the trust of institutions underpinning the global financial system."
Back in August, Circle revealed its initial validator lineup, featuring prominent institutions such as BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, and Visa among the 11 founding organizations set to join the network progressively. Michael Blaugrund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at ICE, noted that their institutional clients had previously voiced concerns regarding onchain fees and settlement times. "Arc’s built-in features, including predictable gas costs and instant transaction finality, directly solve the operational friction points highlighted by these users," he stated.
Additionally, Circle and DTCC intend to facilitate the tokenization of DTC-custodied assets directly on the Arc network starting in the second half of 2027.
Total stablecoin supply. Image: The Block.
Circle generates 10 billion ARC tokens
The entire initial supply of ARC tokens was minted in the United States this week, based on the statement. Nevertheless, Circle clarified that generating these 10 billion tokens serves as a technical milestone rather than a formal pledge for an immediate public release, as the enterprise investigates transitioning from proof of authority to a proof of stake consensus mechanism by 2027. ARC is designed to act as the network’s core framework for security, utility, and governance, whereas USDC will continue functioning as the primary currency for paying transaction fees, according to Circle.
Circle’s payment network and StableFX platform are likewise deeply integrated into the Arc network. The StableFX utility empowers round-the-clock currency exchange and settlement, supporting digital assets such as USDC, EURC, GBPA, JPYC, and KRW1. Prominent tokenized offerings like BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC are accessible for trading, borrowing, lending, and deployment as collateral.
Although Circle has not yet rolled out its optional privacy functionality across the network, the firm confirmed it is actively developing confidential transactions and balances utilizing view keys for authorized participants. This capability will empower traditional financial institutions, asset managers, and enterprises to leverage a public blockchain infrastructure for treasury management, trading operations, and private payment flows.
Arc Studio, representing one of the two primary developer utilities introduced alongside the mainnet launch, functions as an AI coding assistant capable of producing smart contracts and application code. The second tool is Arc App Kits, a comprehensive SDK designed to handle payments, token swaps, fiat onramps, and yield generation.
Furthermore, Circle is currently building AgentVM, an environment enabling artificial intelligence agents to process sensitive information securely within a protected ecosystem, explained the company. The organization’s roadmap also features a specialized payment architecture aimed at handling over 100,000 transactions per second alongside enhanced post-quantum security measures, given that Arc already supports post-quantum cryptographic signatures.
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Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2026-09-16-circle-launches-arc-mainnet-with-blackrock-and-visa-among-validators-mints-10-billion-arc-tokens-415250.
