Circle has announced the launch of the Arc mainnet, a first-layer blockchain designed for institutional financial markets, rapid settlements, and operations of autonomous AI agents.
Arc Mainnet is live.
Arc launches as the Economic OS for the internet: an open platform for global markets, real-time value movement, tokenized assets, and agentic economic activity.
Arc is more than a blockchain.
It launches as a full-stack financial platform with assets,… pic.twitter.com/SWg0NlUijO
— Arc (@arc) September 16, 2026
Gas fees in the new network are paid directly in the stablecoin USDC, eliminating the need to purchase a volatile native token. Arc is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), offers transaction finality in under a second, and supports post-quantum signature algorithms. In the future, developers plan to introduce selective privacy tools with viewing keys for auditing.
The blockchain functions as a comprehensive financial platform, including infrastructure for:
- issuance and trading of RWA;
- lending and borrowing;
- on-chain trading and liquidity provision;
- currency operations and international settlements;
- operations of exchanges, wallets, and custodial services.
The network is integrated with all key Circle products, including the cross-chain protocol CCTP, payment gateways Gateway and CPN, the StableFX system, the Arc Portal platform, and developer tools.
Network validators include major financial institutions such as BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, Visa, SBI Group, and Standard Chartered. At launch, more than 100 applications and services are deployed within the ecosystem. Project partners include exchanges Binance and Coinbase, as well as DeFi protocols Uniswap, Aave, and Morpho.
Arc’s architecture is adapted for software agents. The Circle Agent Stack infrastructure allows AI bots to manage wallets, execute micropayments, and securely process private data. According to the issuer, USDC already accounts for the majority of settlements between agents.
Circle has also issued 10 billion utility tokens, ARC. The asset is intended for governance and security during the planned transition from Proof-of-Authority to Proof-of-Stake in 2027. Transaction fees will continue to be charged in USDC. The company noted that the issuance of tokens does not imply an imminent public listing.
For developers, the company introduced the AI assistant Arc Studio and the Arc App Kits toolset, which allow for quick deployment of smart contracts and integration of payments with just a few lines of code.
In May, Circle announced the launch of the ARC token. During the presale, it raised $222 million from a group of investors, including a16z crypto, BlackRock, and Apollo Funds. The network was valued at $3 billion.
