Circle launched the Arc mainnet on September 16, 2026, expanding beyond USDC issuance into blockchain infrastructure for stablecoin payments, foreign exchange, tokenized assets, cross-border transfers, institutional settlement and AI-agent transactions. Arc is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 with deterministic sub-second finality and USDC-denominated gas fees; it launched with more than 100 applications and over 100 institutional and ecosystem participants, while USDC circulation exceeded $74 billion. Circle deployed $649 million of USDC and $7 million of EURC on Arc. Circle also completed a genesis issuance of 10 billion ARC tokens, but said no public launch, trading availability or specific utility has been decided. Bubblemaps said the tokens were distributed through an empty address to 11 addresses and can be tracked on-chain. Arc's commercial impact will depend on recurring usage, institutional adoption, USDC demand and non-reserve revenue; reserve income represented about 95% of Circle's second-quarter 2026 revenue, and lower reserve yields offset part of the benefit from higher average USDC circulation.