Key Takeaways:
- Arc Mainnet officially launched and brought together over 190 ecosystem partners to cover finance, payments, DeFi, and AI.
- The network is native with USDC, sub-second finality and native full support for tokenized assets, stablecoins and onchain FX.
- Arc’s validator ecosystem includes the likes of BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, and Standard Chartered.
Arc has officially launched its mainnet, introducing what it calls the “Economic OS for the Internet,” a blockchain platform designed to connect stablecoins, tokenized assets, payments, and AI-driven economic activity in a single ecosystem.
Arc Mainnet is live.
Arc launches as the Economic OS for the internet: an open platform for global markets, real-time value movement, tokenized assets, and agentic economic activity.
Arc is more than a blockchain.
It launches as a full-stack financial platform with assets,… pic.twitter.com/SWg0NlUijO
— Arc (@arc) September 16, 2026
In contrast to other liquidity layer-1 chains that take months to build their integrations and financial partnerships with other DeFi projects, Arc is already live with numerous financial partners, wallets, and exchanges.
Read More: Circle’s Arc Launches with 11 Finance Giants and 100+ Builders
Arc Starts with a Full Financial Stack
ARC is built on an EVM-compatible (Layer-1) network featuring a native gas asset in the form of “USDC”. It also is determined by sub-second finality, which means that transactions will be settled within a second.
The network is designed to be used for financial purposes, not just by crypto-native users, says Arc. Users can access lending, borrowing, trading, payments, foreign exchange settlement, tokenized assets, and financial services based on stablecoins from Day 1.
The project begins here with Arc Portal, a portal for making deposits and exchanging assets, monitoring portfolio movements and finding ways to make money within the ecosystem.
Leading crypto exchanges that support Arc interaction are Binance, bybit, Kraken, OKX, KuCoin, Gate, MEXC and Upbit, and the best wallets are MetaMask, SafePal, Phantom, Rabby, Ledger and OKEX.
BlackRock, Visa, and Major Institutions Join
One of the most notable aspects of the launch is the involvement of traditional financial giants. BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, Galaxy, MoneyGram, Standard Chartered, SBI Group, Sumitomo Corporation, and Worldpay are among the founding validators of Arc. These companies’ involvement is indicative of Arc’s focus on institution-level blockchain infrastructure.
Read More: BlackRock, JPMorgan, Coinbase Join UK Tokenization Taskforce Targeting $88T RWA Market
Tokenized Assets and StableFX Go Live
Several tokenized assets are available to launch on the Arc network, such as BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, Circle’s USYC, and Janus Henderson’s related offerings.
The protocol also brings in a new onchain foreign exchange platform named StableFX that allows for 24/7 FX currency conversion and settlement, using fully reserved stablecoins. Supported assets are USD, EUR, JPY, BRN, MXN and some regional stablecoins.
Bitcoin liquidity is also accessible on Arc via the programmable Bitcoin asset cirBTC offered by Circle.
Arc Targets the AI Agent Economy
Arc is not just a financial network; it’s also an autonomous infrastructure for AI-enabled trades. The platform integrates Circle Agent Stack, agent wallets, and programmable payment tools designed to support machine-to-machine economic activity.
Developers can create their own applications through Arc Studio and Arc App Kits, with several AI-related projects already plugged in. At launch, Arc comes with over 190 partners, institutional validators, tokenized assets, stablecoin native payments and infrastructure ready for AI.