Overview
- More than 100 participants are testing the network, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, State Street, Visa, Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood.
- The EVM‑compatible Layer 1 uses USDC as its native gas token, supports fees in USDC or other stablecoins, offers sub‑second finality, and includes opt‑in privacy controls for regulated use.
- Institutions are piloting cross‑border payments, on‑chain foreign exchange, programmable settlement and tokenized funds, with BlackRock and Goldman Sachs highlighting capital‑markets and FX workflows.
- Regional stablecoin issuers such as JPYC, BRLA and QCAD have joined the testnet, signaling multi‑currency ambitions for on‑chain FX beyond a purely dollar‑centric design.
- Circle is stewarding the test phase and says it plans to open validator roles and transition Arc toward community governance as the network matures.