Circle Launched the Arc Mainnet, With BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard Among the Validators

• Circle has launched the public mainnet for the Arc L1 blockchain.
• The project’s validators include BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, Galaxy, and other major companies.
• Circle has also carried out a genesis mint of 10 billion ARC, but a decision on a public token launch has not yet been made.

Circle has launched the public mainnet for the Arc L1 blockchain. The live mainnet status is already displayed on the project’s official website. Circle had previously officially scheduled the launch for September 16, 2026.

Arc is focused on financial markets, payments, tokenized assets, and transactions involving AI agents. The network is EVM-compatible, uses USDC to pay fees, and delivers transaction finality in under a second.

In its initial validator pool, Circle included BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, Intercontinental Exchange, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa. According to the company, participants will be onboarded to the network in phases.

At the same time, DeFi protocols Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap are available in the ecosystem. In a statement provided to The Block, Circle reported more than 100 applications and over 100 institutional and ecosystem participants. Other integrations include the Circle Payments Network and the StableFX service.

In addition, this week Circle carried out a genesis mint of the entire initial supply of 10 billion ARC. Circle emphasized that this is a technical step and does not mean a public launch of the asset. The company continues to consider transitioning Arc from Proof-of-Authority to Proof-of-Stake in 2027.

According to previously published documentation, ARC is positioned as an asset for coordinating network participants, including governance, security, and incentives. USDC, meanwhile, remains the means of paying fees. On the token’s official page, Circle also emphasized that publishing its model did not, by itself, mean ARC had launched.

Circle unveiled Arc in August 2025 as an L1 blockchain for stablecoin transactions, tokenized assets, and other financial instruments. From the outset, the developers positioned the solution as infrastructure for the institutional sector, with predictable fees and integration with Circle services.

In May 2026, Circle raised $222 million in a pre-sale of Arc tokens at a fully diluted network valuation of $3 billion. The round included a16z crypto, BlackRock, Apollo, ICE, SBI Group, and other investors. According to the model disclosed at the time, 60% of the issuance is allocated to ecosystem participants, 25% to Circle, and 15% to the reserve.

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