Circle has launched the mainnet of Arc, a layer-1 blockchain that uses USDC as the asset for transaction fees.

Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 16 that Arc targets stablecoin payments and financial markets, especially agent-based trading.

It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and offers sub-second payment finality. Circle stressed that Arc is a stablecoin-centric infrastructure for developers and institutions for programmable money, global markets and agent economy activity.

Arc supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB. It also provides tokenised assets such as BlackRock BUIDL and Circle USYC in native form. It also supports interoperability with more than 20 blockchains through Circle Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and a gateway.

The launch follows the release of a public testnet in October 2025. More than 100 companies, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Visa, took part in the testnet. Circle said more than 100 institutions and ecosystem participants also joined a private mainnet released in August ahead of the public launch.

Circle Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire (제러미 알레어) called Arc the most important launch in Circle's history since USDC. Arc is also considering widening participation in network operations and switching from proof-of-authority to proof-of-stake in 2027.