# Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock, DTCC and Visa as Validators > Source: > Published: 2026-09-16 14:56:02+00:00 #### In brief - Circle’s Arc mainnet went live Wednesday with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem partners on day one. - Founding validators include BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered and SBI Group. - Circle minted 10 billion ARC tokens this week, while saying that is not a commitment to launch one publicly. Circle has switched on Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain built for payments, trading and “agentic economic activity,” [announcing](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260916108863/en/Circle-Launches-Arc-Mainnet-an-Economic-Operating-System-for-the-Internet) the public mainnet on Wednesday. Chief executive Jeremy Allaire called it "the single most significant launch in Circle's history since USDC itself," in a press release. The USDC [stablecoin](https://decrypt.co/?post_type=post&p=5761) now has [around $74 billion](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/usdc) in circulation and is wired into the new chain as its gas token. BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo, Visa, Worldpay and Galaxy make up Arc’s founding cohort. Circle presents its permissioned validator model as a selling point, pairing it with a "defined governance perimeter" it says lets banks use a public chain for treasury, trading and confidential payments. ## ARC’s genesis mint Circle [completed](https://www.arc.io/blog/arc-economic-os-internet) the genesis mint of ARC this week, creating all 10 billion tokens and making it the first publicly traded company to mint a network token for a new Layer 1. The mint "is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC," the company said, describing it instead as a technical step toward a possible move from proof of authority to proof of stake in 2027. Circle had already [raised](https://decrypt.co/367386/circle-raises-222m-in-arc-token-presale-at-3b-valuation) $222 million in an Arc token presale at a $3 billion valuation. BNY, HSBC, Societe Generale and State Street are among the banks with access; Aave and Morpho anchor lending; Uniswap, Aero and fomo provide trading; and Binance, Kraken, Bybit and OKX offer routes in, with Coinbase to follow. BlackRock's BUIDL and Circle's USYC give the markets tokenized collateral. USDC accounts for 98.8% of agent-driven transaction volume, Circle said, citing Dune, and Arc ships with agent wallets, spending limits and nanopayments. Arc [supports](https://decrypt.co/363395/circle-arc-network-quantum-resistance-bitcoin-ethereum-face-threat) optional post-quantum signatures, with broader protections in development. Circle says its testnet, which [launched](https://decrypt.co/346370/circle-arc-testnet-blackrock-visa-aws) last year with BlackRock and Visa among the participants, processed more than 700 million transactions in under a year.