The Block reported that Circle (USDC) has launched Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain optimized for USDC. Arc uses USDC as gas fees, supports transaction finality in less than 1 second, and is EVM compatible. Over 100 applications, including Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap, have joined the Arc ecosystem simultaneously with the mainnet launch. Eleven institutions, including BlackRock, DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), ICE (Intercontinental Exchange), Mastercard, and Visa, are expected to sequentially join as validators. Circle announced that it initially issued 10 billion ARC this week, but the public launch of the token has not yet been decided.
