Circle’s Arc Blockchain Goes Live: Fireblocks Grants Institutions Instant Access on Day One
Wall Street meets Web3 as Circle flips the switch on its institutional-grade Arc network.
Fireblocks just handed trad-fi the keys—no waiting period, no beta-testing purgatory. The infrastructure giant’s 1,300+ clients now bypass crypto’s usual ‘retail first, compliance later’ rollout playbook.
Security or speculation? Arc’s enterprise-ready design suggests Circle’s betting big on regulated DeFi pipelines. Meanwhile, crypto natives eye the launch with skepticism—since when do banks get front-of-the-line privileges?
One thing’s certain: when custody providers and hedge funds skip the queue, someone’s paying for the fast pass. (Spoiler: it’s your trading fees.)
Circle’s expansion
The launch follows significant milestones for Circle in 2025. On June 5, the company raised $1.05 billion in its IPO, the first by a stablecoin issuer. Shares opened at $69 and peaked at nearly $299 in July before settling around $145 in mid-August.
In its first quarterly earnings report as a public company, Circle reported $658 million in revenue for the second quarter, a 53% increase from a year earlier. Circulation of its USDC stablecoin ROSE 90% in the same period to $61.3 billion, climbing above $65 billion in early August.
Circle has also rolled out the Circle Payments Network to expand its settlement infrastructure, while U.S. regulators advanced clarity on stablecoins with the passage of the GENIUS Act in July.
Intensifying competition
The broader stablecoin market has grown to roughly $277 billion, up from $254 billion at the start of July. While USDC represents about a quarter of the fiat-backed market, rival Tether maintains a dominant market share of over 60%.
Tether reported $5.7 billion in second-quarter profit, a 277% jump from the previous year, largely derived from earnings on its $127 billion in short-term U.S. Treasurys. The position makes it one of the largest private holders of U.S. government debt, surpassing countries such as South Korea and the UAE.
Arc’s debut with Fireblocks aims to ensure Circle’s institutional partners can participate from the outset, reflecting the company’s strategy to strengthen USDC’s role as regulatory clarity and competition reshape the stablecoin landscape.
