Key Takeaways
What’s next for Arc as it rolls out public testnet?
If the test is successful, the payment-focused chain could soon hit the public mainnet for everyone.
Why is Arc’s progress important?
It signals incoming shifts across the stablecoin payment ecosystem, and whether Ethereum will hold its ground remains to be seen.
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is close to launching its Arc chain – A global payment-focused L1 powered by digital dollars. In a statement on 28 October, the firm said that it had begun public testing for the chain alongside key design partners. The partners include top banks, insurers, and asset managers like BlackRock, HSBC, and Absa, among others.
According to Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, the partners have billions of users and handle trillions of dollars in assets across the globe. He claimed that Arc can seamlessly allow local markets and builders to connect to the global economy.
Allaire called it the “economic OS of the internet,” and added,
“This geographic diversity highlights a defining strength of Arc: its purpose-built to connect every local market to the global economy.”
Stablecoin payments heat up
Beyond global and agentic payments, Arc also aims to support on-chain FX (foreign exchange) and capital markets (tokenization).
In fact, BlackRock’s Global Head of Digital Assets, Robert Mitchnick, underscored FX and tokenization as key interests for them in the project. He said,
Author: Benjamin Njiri
