Arc Mainnet Is Coming: What You Need to Know
chaincatcherAuthor: Little Cake, Deep Tide TechFlow
On September 16, Circle will officially launch the Arc public mainnet. The list of genesis validators for this chain reads more like a directory of global financial infrastructure: BlackRock, DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), ICE (Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange), Visa, Mastercard, Standard Chartered Bank, MoneyGram, Galaxy, Sumitomo Corporation, SBI Group, Global Payments.
None of them are crypto-native projects.
This is no coincidence. From the outset, Arc was not designed to answer the question "how many L1s does the crypto world need?"; it answers a different question: when stablecoins become the global payment rail, who provides the underlying operating system for that rail?
Circle's answer: build one itself.
What is Arc?
Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain built by Circle, positioned as the internet's economic operating system (Economic OS). It differs from most L1s on the market in three technical features:
USDC as the native gas token. This is Arc's most fundamental design decision. All on-chain transaction fees are denominated in US dollars and paid in USDC. For traditional financial institutions, this means transaction costs are predictable and can be accounted for in the P&L, no longer subject to the price volatility of a native token.
Sub-second finality.
Arc's consensus engine is called Malachite, derived from Byzantine fault tolerance technology brought by the Informal Systems team after joining Circle, evolved from Tendermint. The key word is finality: once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be rolled back. There is no such thing as "waiting for 6 confirmations is safer." For POS payments, real-time FX settlement, broker settlement, and similar scenarios, this is a hard requirement.
EVM compatibility + compliant privacy.
The execution layer is built on Reth, fully compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem's Solidity toolchain and contract libraries. It also offers an optional privacy layer, exposing interfaces through EVM precompiles, supporting pluggable cryptographic backends, and retaining audit disclosure channels. In other words, Arc's privacy is built for compliance and stands on the same side as compliance.
Day-1 Ecosystem: DeFi Blue Chips + Payment Giants + Mainstream Wallets
Arc's mainnet launch day will not be an empty chain. Circle has revealed the day-1 ecosystem lineup:
DeFi protocols and capital allocators: Aave, Aerodrome, Morpho, Uniswap, Curve, Euler Finance, Fluid, as well as market makers FalconX, Galaxy, GSR, Keyrock, Nonco, XFX. The core protocols for lending, trading, and on-chain capital deployment are essentially all in place.
Stablecoin payment service providers: Rain, Thunes, Wirex, covering card settlement, compliant consumer platforms, and global cross-border payment networks.
Wallets and exchanges: Binance Wallet, Chainlink, Fireblocks, Kraken, Ledger, MetaMask, Uniswap Labs, Upbit. All mainstream entry points are covered.
It is worth emphasizing that Arc also has a built-in on-chain FX engine called StableFX, supporting real-time exchange between stablecoins of different currencies. Combined with deep integration of Circle's own CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol) and Paymaster (gas payment service), Arc provides developers with a "plug-and-play" stablecoin financial tool stack.
ARC Token: 10 Billion Supply and 60% Ecosystem Allocation
Circle revealed the framework design of the ARC token in a whitepaper published in May 2026:
Initial total supply is 10 billion tokens. Annual issuance rate is expected to be 2% to 3%, with a long-term goal of achieving "inflation neutrality." The token is positioned as the "coordination mechanism" of the Arc network, and as the network transitions to a proof-of-stake consensus model, ARC will be used for staking, governance, and network incentives.
60% allocated to the ecosystem. This portion covers token sales, developer funding, network growth programs, and other participation mechanisms.
According to Cryptonomist, the ARC token presale has raised $222 million at a valuation of $3 billion, led by a16z crypto, with participation from BlackRock and Apollo.
There is currently no officially confirmed airdrop plan. However, Circle CEO Allaire has publicly stated that the company is "actively exploring" a native token, and the tokenomics design in the whitepaper (especially the 60% ecosystem allocation) has already created strong expectations within the community. Testnet activity data (over 500 million transactions, nearly 3 million wallet addresses) is also viewed by many opportunists as potential airdrop qualification credentials.
Arc Ecosystem Gold Rush Map: Comprehensive Project Scan Before Mainnet Launch
According to third-party project directory ArcLens, over 308 projects have claimed to be building on Arc. The following categorized list highlights the most noteworthy projects to help readers quickly identify opportunities after mainnet launch.
Tier 1: Confirmed Day-1 DeFi Blue Chips
These projects have received official Circle announcement endorsement, confirming deployment on Arc mainnet launch day or early stage:
Uniswap (v4): Officially announced on August 17 that it will deploy v4 AMM infrastructure at Arc mainnet launch, providing liquidity pools and programmable hooks for Arc. As the world's largest DEX, Uniswap's presence directly determines the trading depth of Arc's early days. Retail opportunity: watch early liquidity pools on Arc; the combination of a new chain and new pools usually means LP fee income is significantly higher in the early stage than on mature chains.
Aave: The leading lending protocol has confirmed deployment on Arc. Users can borrow and lend USDC and other supported assets on Arc. Retail opportunity: Aave typically offers higher deposit rates in the early stages of deployment on a new chain (as lending demand and supply are not yet balanced), and watch whether Aave launches exclusive incentive programs for Arc.
Morpho: Modular lending protocol focused on optimizing lending rates. Complements Aave.
Aerodrome / Velodrome (Dromos Labs): Aerodrome, the leading DEX on Base, and Velodrome on Optimism are built by the same team, Dromos Labs, and have confirmed entry into the Arc ecosystem. Aerodrome's success path on Base (early LP incentives + veToken economic model) may be replicated on Arc. Retail opportunity: if Aerodrome issues incentive tokens on Arc or migrates its ve model, early LP participants may receive outsized rewards.
Curve: A veteran player in stablecoin trading, with a natural advantage on a chain where stablecoins are the native gas. Arc's built-in StableFX FX engine may complement or compete with Curve, worth tracking.
Euler Finance and Fluid: Two DeFi lending/trading protocols that have deployed test versions on the Arc testnet and confirmed they will launch with the mainnet.
Tier 2: Market Makers and Liquidity Providers
FalconX, Galaxy, GSR, Keyrock, Wintermute, IMC, Auros, B2C2, Cumberland, Zodia Markets: almost all top global crypto market makers are present. Direct implication for retail: trading slippage and liquidity depth in Arc's early days are guaranteed, avoiding the typical dilemma of "new chain launch, no market making, violent price swings."
Tier 3: Arc-Native Projects (High Risk/High Potential)
The following projects are built specifically for Arc, have not yet received official Circle endorsement, and carry higher risk, but if the Arc ecosystem explodes, they are the most direct beneficiaries:
ViFi Labs: Decentralized FX protocol focused on emerging market currencies such as the Nigerian naira, Brazilian real, and Colombian peso. Uses an AMM architecture designed for correlated assets, offering near-zero-slippage exchange. Deployed on the Arc testnet, using Arc as the primary liquidity and FX execution hub. Reason to watch: Arc's built-in StableFX FX engine + native USDC/EURC support, ViFi's positioning in emerging market FX aligns highly with Arc's global payment vision. If Arc's cross-border payment narrative holds, ViFi may be the most direct beneficiary at the application layer.
ARCLaunch: Arc's version of Pump.fun, positioned as a one-click token issuance + trading meme coin platform. Plans to integrate a built-in cross-chain bridge, unified balances, Uniswap integration, creator fees, and a referral system. Reason to watch: a meme season on a new chain is almost inevitable. ARCLaunch aims to become the first meme coin issuance platform on Arc. High volatility, high risk, but also the track most likely to produce 100x narratives in a new chain's early days.
AstraPump: Another launchpad and DEX focused on one-click token issuance and trading, ranking high on ArcLens' Trending list. Direct competitor to ARCLaunch. Watch who launches first and who generates volume first.
Lunex: Curve-style StableSwap AMM focused on low-slippage stablecoin exchange. On Arc, a native DEX purely for stablecoin exchange has a narrative advantage.
Orixa (ORIXIANS): Arc-native NFT marketplace, planning to launch the ORIXIANS NFT series after mainnet launch. It is currently unclear whether a token will be issued. Reason to watch: NFT projects on new chains often carry community identity and early participant identification functions, similar to the early stage of Friend.tech on Base.
Tier 4: Payment Infrastructure (Institutional-Facing, Lower Retail Attention)
Blockradar: Payment infrastructure team introduced on Circle's official blog on July 13, providing services to enterprises.
Rain, Thunes, Wirex: Covering card settlement and cross-border payments. These projects are primarily B2B-facing, with limited retail participation space, but their activity level is a forward-looking indicator of whether Arc's "payment chain" narrative holds.
Practical Checklist: What to Do in the 24 Hours Before Mainnet Launch
- Prepare USDC. All operations on Arc require USDC as gas. Ensure you hold sufficient USDC on Ethereum or other chains that support CCTP.
- Set up your wallet. MetaMask has confirmed support for the Arc network. After mainnet launch, add Arc's Chain ID and RPC endpoint; Ledger hardware wallets have also confirmed support.
- Pay attention to cross-chain bridges. Circle's CCTP is the official cross-chain channel for transferring USDC from other chains to Arc. On mainnet launch day, this will be the primary entry point for funds into Arc. Note: phishing sites have already impersonated "ARC Bridge" (e.g., onbridge.xyz), so be sure to use only Circle's official channels.
- Track ArcLens and the official ecosystem page. ArcLens (third-party project directory) is currently the most comprehensive tool for tracking Arc ecosystem projects, allowing you to view token prices, market caps, trading volume, and liquidity data.
- Testnet interaction. If you haven't interacted on the Arc testnet yet, there is still time. Although the ARC token airdrop has not been confirmed, the 60% ecosystem allocation in Circle's whitepaper, combined with the existing Community Program (badges and points system), makes testnet activity a potential basis for airdrop qualification.
Everything is ready, just waiting for the doors to open!
This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice related to BTCC. BTCC makes every effort but cannot guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or originality of the content above.