Circle's Arc Network Surpasses $500M in Deposits Amid Institutional Lending Dominance
Circle's Arc network has reached a significant milestone in just over two weeks since its public mainnet launch on September 16, 2026. The Morpho platform, which is Arc's core credit layer, has seen more than $500 million flow into it for lending and borrowing purposes.
The activity began on the same day as the network went live, with launch day deposits ranging between $150 million and $220 million in USDC and EURC markets. By October 2, 2026, total deposits reached $500.27 million, while outstanding loans stood at $189.93 million.
The cirBTC/USDC market has been the primary driver of lending and borrowing activity on Arc, accounting for approximately 86% of all transactions. This market allows users to post Bitcoin exposure as collateral and borrow dollars against it.
According to Circle, deposits were heavily driven by institutional lending rather than individual users chasing yield. The top vaults on Arc are run by firms such as Steakhouse Financial and Bitwise, which curate the markets that their vault lends into and how much risk it takes.