Circle Launches Public Mainnet of Arc Blockchain with Traditional Finance Giants

Circle has launched the public mainnet of Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for institutional finance. Eleven founding validators include traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard.

Arc is built to provide infrastructure for payments, capital markets, and stablecoin-based applications. The network's validator set is permissioned, meaning Circle selects who validates rather than opening participation to anyone.

The launch marks a significant milestone for Circle, with more than 100 applications going live on day one, including Aave V4, Morpho, Uniswap, and Aerodrome. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called the event 'the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself'.

The Arc network charges transaction fees in USDC, a design choice that sets it apart from other Layer 1 networks. The network is EVM-compatible and built on Reth, making it easy for existing Solidity contracts to deploy without rewriting.