Circle Releases ARC Whitepaper: Launches "Economic OS" Layer 1, ARC as Native Coordination Asset

Odaily Odaily Circle has released a new whitepaper titled "ARC: The Native Asset of the Economic OS," formally introducing a public Layer 1 blockchain named "Arc." Positioned as the internet's "Economic Operating System (Economic OS)," Arc aims to unify the underlying infrastructure for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and global on-chain markets.

Arc will provide deterministic settlement, stablecoin-denominated gas fees, configurable privacy, and institutional-grade validator mechanisms. It forms a complete tech stack by integrating USDC cross-chain capabilities, payment networks, and development tools. According to official disclosures, the Arc testnet has processed over 244 million transactions since its launch in October 2025, with the mainnet scheduled for release in the summer of 2026.

The whitepaper focuses on introducing the native token, ARC, defined as the network's "coordination asset." Its functions include staking, governance, fee distribution, and ecosystem incentives. ARC will participate in network security through a staking mechanism, while a fee conversion and burn mechanism will drive its long-term supply-demand model.

Regarding economic design, ARC has an initial total supply of 10 billion tokens, adopting a model with a starting inflation rate of 2%–3% that gradually decreases. The plan aims for a long-term deflationary equilibrium where "fee burns offset issuance." All on-chain transaction fees will be uniformly converted into ARC, distributed between validators and stakers, with a portion being burned.

On the governance front, ARC holders will vote on key economic parameters, including fees, inflation, and burn mechanisms. Circle retains dominant control over protocol development and compliance execution in the early stages, with a gradual transition toward decentralized governance over time.

Circle emphasizes that Arc's core objective is to establish a "programmable global economic layer," enabling stablecoins, financial protocols, and on-chain applications to operate synergistically within a unified settlement environment, with ARC serving as the system's coordination and incentive core.