According to Odaily Planet Daily, Circle has launched a public beta of its payments-focused Arc blockchain, with participation from over 100 institutions, including Visa, HSBC, BlackRock, AWS, Anthropic, Coinbase, and Kraken. Arc is positioned as a foundational layer for financial services, offering US dollar billing, sub-second settlement, optional privacy, and integration with the Circle payment system. Visa is testing stablecoin settlement to accelerate cross-border payments, while BlackRock is exploring stablecoin settlement and on-chain FX. Circle's long-term goal is decentralization, with open validators and governance. (CoinDesk)