Circle's Arc Blockchain Network Launches with Major Financial Institutions on Board

Circle has launched its public mainnet for Arc, an EVM-compatible L1 blockchain network designed for institutional stablecoin settlement. The genesis validator cohort includes major financial institutions such as Blackrock, Visa, and DTCC, with no independent node operators or crypto-native infrastructure firms in the founding set.

The choice of validators is deliberate, says Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire, who notes that Arc is built on a premise that 'the global financial system deserves a blockchain network it can trust.'

Arc uses USDC as its native gas, which means transaction costs are quoted in dollars rather than a volatile network asset. The public mainnet has over 100 institutional and ecosystem builders working on it, with applications including Aave, Uniswap, and Kraken already integrated.

Blackrock plans to deploy BUIDL on Arc, allowing investors to subscribe, redeem, and deploy fund assets in one on-chain environment. DTCC is set to tokenize DTC-custodied assets on Arc starting in the second half of 2027.