Circle launches Arc mainnet with dollar fees

Circle launched the mainnet of Arc, a blockchain designed for payments and financial applications. Transaction fees are paid in USDC, removing the need to acquire a separate volatile asset for gas. Circle says the network provides deterministic settlement in less than a second.

The launch includes institutional validators and native integration with Circle products. The company reported more than 100 applications and more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders participating at launch, spanning banks, payment networks, asset managers and decentralised finance teams.

Arc also connects to Circle's foreign-exchange and payments infrastructure, with support for USDC, EURC and tokenised assets. Confidential balances and transactions remain in development for a wider network release. The launch therefore makes the settlement network available while some of its announced privacy capabilities are still being prepared.