Circle Unveils Arc Mainnet with USDC as Native Gas Token

Circle has launched the mainnet of Arc, its new layer-1 blockchain designed for stablecoin payments and financial markets. The network uses USDC as its native gas token and offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and deterministic sub-second settlement finality. Over 20 fiat stablecoins are supported on Arc, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1, and TRYB.

Tokenized assets such as BlackRock's BUIDL and Circle's USYC are available natively on Arc. The network also offers interoperability with more than 20 blockchains through Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway. CEO Jeremy Allaire called the launch 'the single most significant in Circle's history since USDC itself.'

Circle has been working on Arc for some time, having debuted its public testnet in October last year with over 100 participating companies. The private mainnet had already seen participation from more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders before the public launch. Arc plans to broaden participation in network operations and explore a transition from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake in 2027.