Circle, a leading stablecoin and USDC issuer, has officially launched its Arc testnet with VISA, Mastercard and other key partners, a new layer-one blockchain designed to serve as the “economic operating system of the Internet.”
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The testnet already includes more than 100 major participants from finance, technology and payments, including, as mentioned, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Coinbase, all of whom are collaborating to bridge the gap between TradFi and the on-chain economy.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, described Arc as specifically designed to connect each local market to the global economy, with a focus on its ability to facilitate lending, capital markets, foreign exchange and global payments.
Arc’s design focuses on USDC as the native gas token, offering predictable dollar-based transaction fees and sub-second finality, features that make it uniquely attractive for regulated financial operations.
ETH's price moving sideways on the daily chart. Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview
A global push towards Blockchain-based finance
Arc’s debut underscores the growing institutional desire for blockchain infrastructure that balances regulatory compliance with decentralized programmability.
Participants such as Apollo, BNY Mellon and State Street join payment giants and fintech leaders in testing Arc’s capabilities. circle It has also enlisted developer partners such as Alchemy, Chainlink, and Anthropic, while Coinbase and Uniswap provide liquidity support.
The network integrates optional privacy controls to ensure compliance with data protection standards while enabling transparency for audits and reconciliations. This balance is critical for large financial institutions exploring tokenized assets, real-time settlements, and programmable payments.
In an important regional development, South Korean company BDACS announced that it will issue its stablecoin backed by the Korean Won (KRW1) on Circle’s Arc Blockchain, a move aimed at expanding the presence of South Korean regulated stablecoins on the global stage.
Towards decentralized governance and institutional adoption
While the department currently supervises Arc testnet Operations, the company plans to move towards decentralized, community-governed operations in the future. Compliance partners like Elliptic are already integrating monitoring tools to enhance transparency across the ecosystem.
Industry analysts view Arc as Circle’s most ambitious project yet, a move that could reshape how banks, fintech companies and institutions do cross-border payments and token finance.
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As the Arc testnet gains traction, it could become the backbone of a new financial era, one in which blockchain technology and traditional finance converge to power the next generation of global commerce.
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