Circle has launched the public mainnet of Arc, an EVM-compatible layer-1 network built around stablecoin payments, foreign exchange and tokenized assets. Arc uses USDC as its native asset for network fees rather than requiring users to hold a separate volatile gas token.
The launch moves Arc beyond the testnet and private-mainnet phases described by Circle over the past year. Arc’s launch materials say the network is live with more than 20 fiat stablecoins and interoperability with over 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol and Gateway. Cointelegraph separately reported the mainnet launch on September 16.
For payment providers, USDC-denominated fees simplify one operational problem: a wallet can use the same asset for transfer value and transaction costs. That can reduce the need to maintain a second-token balance across customer, treasury and relayer wallets. It does not eliminate fee estimation, liquidity management or the need to reserve enough USDC to complete a transaction.
A stablecoin-focused settlement stack
Arc documentation describes deterministic finality in under one second and says transactions are final once included in a block. The network uses a permissioned validator set at launch, with a phased plan for broader participation. Arc’s announcement names financial and payment companies in the founding validator cohort, including Mastercard, Visa, MoneyGram, DTCC, ICE, Standard Chartered and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments.
Those design choices may be useful for payment flows that require a clear point at which to credit a recipient or advance a downstream process. However, the performance and reliability descriptions come from Arc’s own materials. The launch does not yet provide an independent operating history, public payment-volume figures or service-level evidence across peak conditions.
The asset lineup includes USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB among more than 20 fiat stablecoins listed by Arc. Circle also says its StableFX service is live on the network for programmable foreign-exchange transactions, while Circle Payments Network can connect payment operators to Arc for uses including cross-border treasury, remittances, merchant payouts and business payments.
Payment firms should distinguish network availability from commercial adoption. A supported asset or named ecosystem participant does not establish transaction volume, merchant acceptance, liquidity depth in every currency pair or production use by every company listed. Each integration still requires technical testing, counterparty arrangements and any applicable licensing, sanctions, consumer-protection and transaction-monitoring controls.
Interoperability expands the control surface
Arc’s connection to more than 20 blockchains is designed to let applications move or issue assets across networks through Circle infrastructure. That potentially reduces bespoke integration work, but cross-chain operations remain dependent on the source network’s finality, the selected transfer path and the availability of Circle’s bridge and routing services. Arc’s own fast finality does not make every end-to-end cross-chain payment final in under one second.
The USDC gas model also creates concentration around the stablecoin. Operators need procedures for obtaining USDC, maintaining fee headroom and handling address restrictions or other transaction failures. Arc’s legal disclosures say use of the network depends on the ability to obtain and use USDC for fees and that the network is operated by a permissioned validator set.
Circle also disclosed that it completed a genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens, but explicitly said this was not a commitment to launch the token publicly. Network fees remain payable in USDC, and Arc says it is only exploring a future shift from proof of authority toward proof of stake in 2027. The current operating model, rather than that prospective roadmap, is the relevant basis for payment-infrastructure assessments today.