Circle has officially launched Arc, a Layer-1 blockchain designed specifically for stablecoins and AI agents. The mainnet went live on September 16, 2026. According to Chief Product and Technology Officer Nikhil Chandhok, the network aims to expand the market rather than compete directly with Ethereum for existing users.
The platform features the Agent Stack, which was released in May 2026 following a public testnet that began in October 2025. This toolkit provides AI agents with access to provenance proofs, reputation systems, and nanopayments. The network utilizes the Malachite consensus engine to achieve sub-second deterministic finality for transactions.
Arc uses USDC as its native gas token to eliminate volatility in transaction fees. The network is supported by institutional validators, including BlackRock, Visa, and Mastercard. Circle positions itself as an infrastructure provider, leaving the development of specific AI agent applications to third-party enterprises and developers.
The project completed a private presale raising $222 million by selling 740 million ARC tokens at a price of $0.30 per token. This valuation places the project at approximately $3 billion post-sale. The total initial supply of the ARC network token is fixed at 10 billion units.
