Circle's Arc Blockchain Set to Launch with Major Institutional Support
Circle is set to launch its USDC-native blockchain Arc on September 16, 2026. The network aims to provide infrastructure for institutional payments, settlements, and tokenized financial assets.
Arc has secured significant backing from major institutions, including BlackRock, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Visa, Mastercard, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Galaxy, Global Payments, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, and Sumitomo Corporation. These validators will operate permissioned nodes selected by Circle.
The network combines Ethereum development tools with a separate consensus architecture designed for rapid settlement. Its consensus engine, Malachite, uses Byzantine fault-tolerant technology to provide deterministic transaction finality in under 500 milliseconds.