Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has launched Arc, a Layer-1 blockchain specifically designed for stablecoin-based applications. The network uses USDC as native gas, offering predictable fees and deterministic finality through the Malachite consensus engine. The public mainnet is scheduled for September 16, 2026, following a testnet that processed over 500 million transactions. An ARC token with an initial supply of 10 billion has been announced, with a $222 million presale completed in May 2026 valuing the token at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. Founding validators include BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC and Standard Chartered, alongside Circle.
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