Circle launches Arc mainnet with BlackRock, Visa and DTCC among founding validators

Circle/Arc

Circle launched the public mainnet of Arc, its blockchain for payments, currency exchange and capital markets, on 16 September 2026 with more than 100 applications live. Fees are paid in the USDC stablecoin rather than a volatile token, and transactions are final in under a second. The network is run by a permissioned group of founding validators, including BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard and Visa.

• Testnet: more than 1,200 projects built and over 700 million transactions processed before launch.
• Arc is EVM-compatible, supports post-quantum signatures, and has opt-in confidential transactions in development.
• Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens at genesis but says this is not a commitment to launch them publicly; it is groundwork for a possible move to proof-of-stake in 2027.
• Fees stay payable in USDC either way.
• Circle notes Arc has not been reviewed or approved by New York's financial regulator (NYDFS).