On August 12, Circle announced the creation of Arc, a new Layer-1 blockchain. The platform was developed to be an ideal environment for stablecoin financing.

Key Features of Arc

* Fees and Gas: Arc uses USDC as its native cryptocurrency for fees (gas), ensuring that costs are low and predictable, denominated in US dollars.

* Settlement and Exchange: The blockchain features an integrated institutional-level exchange mechanism, allowing for automatic settlement of stablecoins 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

* Technology: Arc operates with the Malachite consensus mechanism, which offers high performance, transaction finalization in under a second, and privacy options. Additionally, it is compatible with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

Applications and Launch

Circle's new blockchain focuses on applications such as international payments, stablecoin derivatives, on-chain credit, and capital markets settlement. The beta testing phase is expected this fall, and the mainnet launch is scheduled for 2026.