Circle (CRCL) announced the Arc mainnet on June 16, and it is a layer‑1 blockchain based on USDC and EURC. This chain supports payments, foreign exchange, trading, settlement, and transaction fees are denominated in USDC, a dollar‑denominated stablecoin. Circle has designed the system so that transactions can be finalized within one second, meeting both speed and accuracy required by traditional payment networks.
At the same time as Arc is released, Circle announced that more than 100 institutions, ecosystem participants, and about 100 applications will join the network. Major verifiers and users include BlackRock, the U.S. Treasury Department (DTCC), Mastercard, Visa, and other global financial institutions. Arc also integrates existing services such as Circle Payments and StableFX, designed to support payment and foreign exchange transactions using USDC, EURC, and other currencies. This integration marks a step toward expanding Circle’s infrastructure operations into broader financial‑infrastructure business.
Currently, the interest income generated from managing USDC reserves has a significant impact on Arc. If market rates fall, reserve income may decline, making it a key issue for how Arc can change its financial structure. Merely launching the mainnet does not automatically change the revenue model; for Arc to become a real financial infrastructure, repeated payments and transactions must occur more than just institutional participation, implying that new revenue streams such as network usage fees could materialize.
In the next 12–24 months, it will be necessary to measure Arc’s USDC‑EURC trading volume, number of participating institutions, tokenized assets, and actual use of financial services. More financial firms beyond initial verifiers and users must join to expand the network’s stability and utilization scope. The types and scale of tokenized assets traded on Arc, as well as whether protocols that provide issuance and trading services operate continuously, are also under scrutiny. Circle has stated its intention to grow Arc into a foundation that supports real‑time capital movements in the financial market.