What happened?
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has launched the public mainnet of its own Arc blockchain network. According to CryptoSlate, the public launch was scheduled for September 16, marking the move from a private and testing phase to a production network open to the wider community.
Arc is an EVM compatible Layer 1 (a first layer blockchain that is compatible with tools from the Ethereum ecosystem). According to Kraken, it is designed as a settlement foundation for financial flows such as settlement, collateral, treasury management, and asset issuance.
Why is it different from ordinary stablecoins?
The main innovation: on Arc, USDC serves as the native token for paying transaction fees (so called gas). Cointelegraph confirms this. In practice, it means a user does not need to hold a separate token just for fees. The same dollar balance funds both the payment itself and the cost of executing it.
CryptoSlate describes this feature as removing a common obstacle when using stablecoins. For Circle, it is a potential way to increase demand for USDC at a time when it competes with Tether (the issuer of USDT).
What are the network's parameters?
According to Cointelegraph, the Arc mainnet at launch offers:
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Native gas token | USDC |
| Fiat stablecoin support | more than 20 |
| Blockchain connections | more than 20 |
| Network type | EVM compatible Layer 1 |
Meanwhile, Kraken announced that it already supports USDC deposits and withdrawals via the Arc network. The exchange also warns that deposits sent through unsupported networks may be irretrievably lost, which is a standard risk when working with new networks.
How did Arc come about?
CryptoSlate reports that the public mainnet was preceded by a private network which, according to Circle, had more than 100 ecosystem and institutional building teams in August. According to the same source, the public testnet was set to open on October 28, 2025.
Note: There is an inconsistency in the timeline among the sources (the CoinDesk article is dated September 15, 2026, while CryptoSlate mentions a testnet from October 2025). We cannot unambiguously confirm the exact sequence of dates from the available sources, so we present it as uncertain.
What does Circle say?
According to CoinDesk, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc "more consequential" than USDC itself. CoinDesk frames the launch in the context of banks and large payment firms entering the stablecoin market, and describes Arc as a network for payments, tokenized assets, and institutional finance.
What we do not know yet?
- Real usage. How many transactions and what volume Arc will actually process after the public launch is not stated by the sources.
- Competitive impact. Whether this feature will actually shift demand from USDT to USDC is so far speculation, not a proven fact.
- Breadth of support among exchanges and wallets. Apart from Kraken, we do not have a confirmed list of other supporting platforms from verified sources.
What to watch out for with this type of news
A mainnet launch is a start, not a result. With new networks, it is worth tracking actual on-chain metrics (volume, number of active addresses, number of deployed applications) in the following weeks, verifying the supported network before every exchange deposit, and distinguishing marketing statements from verifiable numbers. charliedesk offers no buy or sell recommendation on this topic.