Circle Launches Arc Blockchain for Stablecoin Finance

Arc is a new Layer 1 blockchain being built by Circle, the company behind the second-largest stablecoin in circulation, USDC. Announced in August 2025, Arc is designed specifically for stablecoin finance and has received backing from major Wall Street heavyweights like BlackRock, Visa, and MasterCard.

The protocol tackles several friction points that Circle sees in existing blockchain infrastructure, including volatile gas costs, unpredictable settlement times, and the lack of privacy required for many conventional financial transactions. Arc combines USDC-denominated gas, predictable transaction fees, deterministic sub-second finality, and a permissioned validator network.

Arc's architecture supports stablecoins and tokenized assets, and it connects with different products already launched by Circle, including Mint, CCTP, and Gateway. The blockchain is EVM-compatible, allowing developers to use existing Ethereum-first tooling and Solidity-based smart contracts.