Circle’s Arc blockchain goes live as an onchain home for tokenized assets
Circle launched Arc mainnet with BlackRock’s BUIDL and USYC natively available and DTCC-custodied asset tokenization planned for 2027.
Circle opens Arc mainnet with tokenized funds live onchain
Circle put the mainnet of its Arc layer-1 blockchain live on September 16, positioning the USDC-issuing network as an onchain home for tokenized institutional assets, including BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Circle’s USYC, both available natively for trading, lending and collateral, according to the launch announcement.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is a founding validator on the network, one of 11 institutions Circle named in August alongside BlackRock, ICE, Mastercard and Visa. The next step is on record: Circle and DTCC plan to enable tokenization of DTC-custodied assets on Arc beginning in the second half of 2027, a step that would move custody-held securities onto a public chain.
Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s chief executive, called Arc “the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC itself” in the launch press release.
The institutional draw is the asset menu. Arc supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB, and connects to more than 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). Fees are paid in USDC rather than a network token, at roughly one cent per transaction, with sub-second settlement. More than 700 million transactions ran through Arc’s testnet between its October 2025 launch and mainnet.
Circle minted the full initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens during launch week, but the company said the mint is not a commitment to publicly launch the token, which is not available to the public. ARC is intended as the network’s coordination mechanism for security, governance and utility, while USDC remains the fee currency.
BlackRock’s involvement runs through both roles: the asset manager is a founding validator and its BUIDL tokenized fund is live natively on the chain. Circle’s presale of ARC tokens in May raised $222 million at a $3 billion network valuation, with BlackRock among the backers.
Image: generated illustration.
