Circle's Arc Mainnet Launches with Instant Settlements and Institutional Backing
Circle Internet Group's Arc mainnet has gone live for instant digital payments. The Layer 1 blockchain, built specifically for institutional finance, launched on September 16, 2026.
A founding validator cohort of eleven institutions, including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, and DTCC, will help operate the network and secure it alongside using it.
The Arc mainnet settles transactions in under one second and charges gas fees in USDC instead of a native token. This design is intended to address common objections from banks about public blockchains.
Circle minted the full 10 billion token supply of ARC this week, but has not committed to a public token launch. Aave and Morpho will anchor Arc's onchain lending markets at launch, alongside trading venues Aerodrome, fomo, and Uniswap.