Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock, Visa and Mastercard as Validators

Circle has launched Arc Mainnet, a Layer 1 blockchain seeking to power financial markets, stablecoin payments, and a new wave of AI-fueled economic activity. Arc went live on 16 September with 100+ applications and 100+ institutions and ecosystem participants.

Circle’s infrastructure has since expanded past USDC to include a Layer 1 settlement layer. Because Arc uses USDC for gas, there is no need for volatile gas. According to Circle, the network has sub-second finality and uses post-quantum signatures.

It is EVM-compatible and supports Ethereum-compatible Solidity contracts and tooling. Privacy for confidential balances and transactions is in development, to be available for the entire network.

NEW: @Circle launches Arc mainnet, a Layer 1 blockchain with @BlackRock, @The_DTCC, @Visa and @Mastercard as founding validators.