Circle releases Arc whitepaper: launches "economic operating system" Layer1, with ARC as the native coordination asset
Arc will provide deterministic settlement, stablecoin-denominated Gas fees, configurable privacy, and institution-grade validator mechanisms. It forms a complete technology stack through USDC cross-chain operations, payment networks, and developer tools. Official sources revealed that since its testnet launch in October 2025, Arc has processed over 244 million transactions, with the mainnet scheduled for release in summer 2026.
The white paper highlights the introduction of the native token ARC, which is defined as the network's "coordination asset". It serves functions such as staking, governance, fee distribution, and ecosystem incentives. ARC will contribute to network security through a staking mechanism and drives the long-term supply and demand model via a fee conversion and burning mechanism.
In terms of economic design, ARC has an initial total supply of 10 billion tokens, employs a model with a starting inflation rate of 2%–3% that gradually decreases, and plans to achieve a long-term deflationary balance where "fee burning offsets issuance". All on-chain fees will be uniformly converted to ARC, distributed among validators and stakers, and partially burned.
On the governance front, ARC holders will participate in voting on key economic parameters such as fees, inflation, and burning mechanisms. Circle will retain dominant rights over protocol development and compliance enforcement during early phases, gradually transitioning to decentralized governance in later stages.
Circle emphasized that Arc's core objective is to establish a "programmable global economic layer", enabling stablecoins, financial protocols, and on-chain applications to operate collaboratively within the same settlement environment, with ARC serving as the system's coordination and incentive core.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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