Arc (
@arc)is quietly building something that might matter a lot.
Circle the company behind USDC is building a blockchain called Arc. Not another L1 chasing hype.
An “Economic OS” designed from the ground up to run on stablecoins, move at software speed, and actually serve AI agents and real financial use cases.
Public testnet is live. Here’s what’s been happening.
AI agents finally have rails worth using
Gas paid in USDC. Sub-second finality. Programmable settlement. Opt-in privacy. Arc is designed so autonomous agents can transact and coordinate in real time, without the usual blockchain lag killing the experience. If the agentic economy is coming, this is the kind of plumbing it actually needs.
Serious DeFi is showing up
Aave V4 is exploring a launch on Arc. That’s not a small signal. USDC, EURC, and cirBTC are lined up at launch. Prediction markets are eyeing it too stable costs and multi-currency settlement make it genuinely attractive for real-world use cases, not just speculation.
They’re already thinking about quantum
Circle published a post-quantum whitepaper laying out a phased plan to harden USDC, smart contracts, validators, and broader infrastructure. Most blockchains aren’t touching this yet. Arc is treating it as a design requirement.
A weird (good) hype event is coming
On June 9 at 8AM PST, Arc is streaming The Bored Room! a satirical piece about waiting for approvals in the old financial system. It’s a clever way to make the point. Worth watching just for the bit.
The numbers behind it
$222M raised.
- BlackRock, Apollo, a16z on the cap table. ~$3B valuation. 10B
$ARC total supply with 60% earmarked for the ecosystem. Mainnet expected later in 2026.