Circle’s USDC-Centric Arc Blockchain Poised to Reshape Institutional Crypto Finance Post-IPO

Circle's inaugural earnings call as a public company celebrated its recent IPO while unveiling ambitious plans for its Arc blockchain. The forthcoming layer-1 network, designed as an institutional-grade foundation for onchain financial services, will feature USDC as its native gas token while supporting additional stablecoins. CEO Jeremy Allaire positioned Arc as the infrastructure backbone for stablecoin-driven finance, specifically targeting payments, forex, and capital markets.

This development reflects broader industry momentum, with Stripe reportedly building a payments-focused layer-1 and Robinhood advancing a layer-2 solution. The institutional push comes amid explosive growth in the $260 billion stablecoin sector. USDC's circulating supply grew 90% YoY to $61 billion at Q2's close, reaching $65 billion by mid-August 2025.

Allaire highlighted surging demand from trading firms and asset managers seeking frictionless movement between yield-bearing tokenized assets and digital cash. These developments underscore the financial sector's growing recognition of stablecoins as critical infrastructure rather than speculative instruments.