Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock, Visa and Mastercard as Validators

Circle has launched Arc Mainnet, a Layer 1 blockchain seeking to power financial markets, stablecoin payments, and a new wave of AI-fueled economic activity. Arc went live on 16 September with 100+ applications and 100+ institutions and ecosystem participants. Circle’s infrastructure has since expanded past USDC▼$0.9998 to include a Layer 1 settlement layer.

Because Arc uses USDC for gas, there is no need for volatile gas. According to Circle, the network has sub-second finality and uses post-quantum signatures.

It is EVM-compatible and supports Ethereum-compatible Solidity contracts and tooling. Privacy for confidential balances and transactions is in development, to be available for the entire network.

The validator group bringing traditional finance to Arc includes founding members BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, Visa, and Worldpay — a subsidiary of Global Payments. Banks, asset managers, exchanges, custodians, payments companies, and DeFi protocols have committed to building on or integrating with the Arc network.

Arc is built out with payments, foreign exchange, trading, and credit infrastructure. Circle StableFX provides 24/7 programmable foreign exchange settlement, and Circle Payments Network is fully integrated for cross-border payments.