Circle (CRCL), the company behind a $76 billion stablecoin USDC$0.9998 is inching closer to launching its payments-focused Arc blockchain and has begun a testing phase with a wide range of institutional partners.
The company announced on Tuesday that it has introduced a public testnet version of Arc, making it available to more than 100 financial institutions, asset managers, and tech companies that are already involved, including Visa, HSBC, BlackRock, and Anthropic.
“Together, these companies reach billions of users, move, exchange and store hundreds of trillions in assets and payments, and support regional economies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire.
The move comes as stablecoins, $300 billion-class crypto tokens tied to fiat currencies, are becoming increasingly integrated into traditional finance. Meanwhile, major banks and asset managers are also considering the use of blockchain to move products such as bonds, funds, and credits (often referred to as real-world asset tokenization (RWA)) for operational benefits.
They will be a huge market. Citi predicted that stablecoins could reach a value of $4 trillion by the end of this decade, while tokenized assets could reach a market size of nearly $19 trillion by 2033, according to BCG and Ripple.
Accompanied by banks and asset management companies
Circle said Arc is intended to serve as a base layer for financial services from tokenized funds, cross-border payments to foreign exchange (FX) settlements. It offers features such as USD-based fees, sub-second payments, optional privacy controls, and is tightly integrated with Circle's stablecoin and payments platform.
Companies considering Arc include traditional financial giants like State Street, Deutsche Bank, Invesco and Societe Generale. Digital asset players such as Coinbase and Kraken, fintechs such as Nuvei and Brex, and global technology providers such as AWS and Mastercard are participating.
For example, Visa is using the testnet to evaluate how stablecoin-backed payments infrastructure can speed up the movement of funds globally. Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, said the company is exploring ways to “unlock further utility” for Ark's support for stablecoin payments and on-chain FX for capital markets.
Invesco is using the testnet to evaluate how blockchain can help manage tokenized funds more efficiently, while Société Générale is focusing on programmable payments and transparency in cross-border capital flows. HSBC, one of the world's largest global banks, said it is testing Ark's potential for faster and more transparent international payments.
State Street is testing digital asset custody integration. SBI Holdings is evaluating how regulated financial services can be extended to the on-chain environment. Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank are also participating, indicating growing interest from the global banking network.
The launch has also attracted interest from asset managers like WisdomTree and infrastructure players like AWS, Mastercard, and Cloudflare. Fintech companies Nuvei and Brex are testing Arc's ability to support merchant payments and cross-border payments. Exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Coincheck are participating, along with DeFi protocols like Aave ghost$234.72Curve (CRV) and Maple (SYRUP).
Anthropic, which created the artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Claude, also plans to integrate its AI-powered developer tools into Arc.
Several regional stablecoin issuers are also active on the testnet, including Australia's Forte (AUDF), Brazil's Avenia (BRLA), Mexico's Juno (MXNB), and the Philippines' Coins.ph (PHPC). These regional issuers are evaluating Arc's stablecoin swap and FX infrastructure.
Circle said the long-term goal is for Arc to evolve into a decentralized community management system. While Circle is leading the initial rollout, the roadmap includes opening up validator participation and setting up a public governance framework to guide the network's future development.
Read more: Why Circle and Stripe (and many others) are launching their own blockchains
