Arc is Circle's Layer-1 built for institutional finance, using USDC as its native gas token for sub-second, dollar-priced settlement.

Named backers span BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, Apollo and Coinbase, part of the 100+ firms that joined the Arc testnet. Mainnet goes live September 16.

Circle is also working with the DTCC, which settles and safeguards most stock and bond transactions in the U.S., to bring tokenized versions of traditionally held assets onto Arc, starting in the second half of 2027.