Arc launches as full-stack financial platform with USDC integration

Arc: Arc is Circle's open Layer 1 blockchain designed as an Economic OS for the internet, supporting global markets, real-time value movement, tokenized assets, and agentic economic activity. It features USDC as native gas, EVM compatibility, sub-second finality, and institutional validators. Arc's public mainnet launch enables a full-stack financial platform with assets, applications, and developer tools live from day one, directly advancing USDC transfers and integrations. CPN: CPN, or Circle Payments Network, provides infrastructure for near-real-time cross-border payments and stablecoin settlements. It integrates with Arc to enable onchain FX and payment use cases with institutional compliance. CPN contributes to Arc's full-stack services for payments and settlement from day one. CCTP: CCTP is Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol enabling seamless, permissionless transfers of USDC and other assets across supported blockchains. It provides interoperability for Arc with over 20 networks through lock-and-mint or burn-and-mint mechanisms. CCTP supports Arc's multi-chain liquidity and asset composability from mainnet. USDC: USDC is Circle's regulated stablecoin serving as programmable digital dollars for payments, settlements, and onchain finance. On Arc, it functions as native gas for transactions with deterministic finality. This positions USDC at the core of Arc's infrastructure for real-time value movement and tokenized asset activities coming to platforms like Coinbase. Circle: Circle is the company issuing USDC and building internet financial infrastructure, including blockchain networks and agentic tools. It launched Arc as its most significant platform since USDC itself, integrating full-stack services like payments and compliance from genesis. Circle's role drives Arc's focus on institutional-grade onchain markets and global interoperability. Gateway: Gateway is Circle's cross-chain solution extending connectivity for value exchange, asset issuance, and composability beyond a single network. It powers nanopayments and bridges Arc to broader ecosystems. The integration facilitates Arc's real-time settlement and global market features at launch. App Kits: App Kits provide SDKs for onramping, payments, cross-chain transactions, earning, and agentic workflows on Arc. They enable composable app development with reusable components for common financial use cases. These kits form part of Arc's launch infrastructure to support builders in payments, trading, and liquidity from day one. StableFX: StableFX is Circle's onchain foreign exchange product offering real-time, transparent pricing and near-instant settlement for stablecoin pairs. It powers Arc's dedicated onchain FX capabilities alongside tokenized assets. StableFX enhances Arc's platform for trading, liquidity, and global value movement. Arc Portal: Arc Portal serves as a unified interface for users and agents to manage wallets, swap assets, explore apps, and access lending or FX opportunities on Arc. It allows creation of policy-controlled agent wallets for automated tasks. The portal enhances accessibility for Arc's ecosystem of exchanges, custody, and compliance tools. Arc Studio: Arc Studio is an AI-powered development tool that generates smart contracts, frontends, and onchain applications from natural language descriptions. It supports building escrow, payments, and agent workflows directly on Arc. The tool accelerates developer adoption of Arc's EVM-compatible environment and tokenized asset capabilities. Circle Agent Stack: Circle Agent Stack delivers infrastructure for the agentic economy, including policy-controlled agent wallets, marketplaces for services, and support for micropayments via USDC. It equips AI agents to hold assets, execute transactions, and interact across chains. Integrated at Arc launch, it powers agentic economic workflows and onchain coordination. Launch: Arc's public mainnet provides a complete economic platform at genesis with infrastructure for agentic workflows, lending, trading, tokenized assets, and payments. Ecosystem: Over 190 institutional and ecosystem builders are participating in Arc's launch across exchanges, wallets, custody, and developer tooling. Interoperability: Arc integrates Circle's CCTP, Gateway, and other services to enable cross-chain value movement and asset composability from day one.