Circle's Arc Blockchain Launches with USDC Gas Fees and Institutional Partners

Circle's Arc is a new layer-1 blockchain that launched on September 16, offering fast settlement times and a unique gas fee system. Unlike most blockchains, Arc charges gas fees in USDC (USDC), not ETH.

The public mainnet of Arc is EVM-compatible, allowing existing wallets to work seamlessly, and it settles transactions in under a second. The design of Arc prioritizes institutional adoption, with over 190 builders and ecosystem partners already on board, including BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard.

Arc's gas fee system has been a topic of interest among users, with some experiencing confusion due to the way USDC is handled. The native gas asset uses 18 decimals, while as an ERC-20 asset, it uses six. Circle advises wallets to show a single USDC row and divide the 18-decimal figure by 10^12.

Before Arc's launch, users could access the chain through Unstable, a marketplace that matched Ethereum USDC against Arc-side USDC at a 3% taker fee. The offers for accessing Arc were initially high, with prices reaching 1.82x to 1.85x by September 13.

Since then, Circle has opened its own explorer and Etherscan has added support for the chain. Users can now bridge onto Arc through various methods, including Circle's official USDC bridge and CCTP. However, be cautious of look-alike 'Arc bridge' sites that charge fees ranging from 0.5% to 4%.