Circle Launches Public Testnet For Arc With Participation from Over 100 Institutions

Circle has officially launched the public testnet for Arc, an open Layer-1 blockchain network built to support developers and companies, driving more economic activity onchain.

The New Economic “OS” For Internet

This is a major milestone for Circle and it’s already attracting participation from over 100 companies across the financial and technology sectors. 

Arc is now available for developers and enterprises to deploy, test and build on what Circle describes as the new Economic Operating System (“OS”) for the internet.

CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the testnet is “seeing remarkable early momentum”, as leading companies, protocols, and projects begin to build and test.

He highlighted that these participants collectively serve billions of users and handle trillions in assets worldwide, underscoring Arc’s goal to connect local markets to the global economy. He described Arc as enterprise-grade infrastructure designed to enable a more open, inclusive, and efficient financial system built natively on the internet.

Arc is a big step toward building a more open and programmable financial infrastructure for the global economy. It is designed to make onchain transactions faster, smarter, and easier to use, with predictable dollar-based fees, sub-second transaction finality and opt-in configurable privacy.

With its integration to Circle’s full-stack platform, Arc enables a wide range of use cases across lending, capital markets, foreign exchange and global payments.

Institutional Partners

Leading capital markets firms engaging with Arc include Apollo, BNY, Intercontinental Exchange, and State Street.

Other participating banks, asset managers, and insurers include Absa, Clearbank, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Invesco, SBI Holdings and others. 

Circle notes that payments are emerging as one of Arc’s most powerful use cases, making it easy for people and businesses to move money instantly and without friction. The same infrastructure also supports AI-driven systems that can autonomously send and settle value in real time.

Technology and Fintech Partners

The technology and payments firms engaging with Arc, include AWS, Mastercard, Visa, Cloudflare, Brex, Nuvei, among others. Stablecoin issuers from various regions are also active on the testnet.

Infrastructure Providers and Developers

Arc is also partnering with leading developers and infrastructure providers including MetaMask, Ledger, Fireblocks, Alchemy and Chainlink. 

Anthropic is enhancing the developer experience on Arc with Claude code-powered builder tools. Crosschain partners include Across, Wormhole and Stargate while Elliptic, Quicknode, and TRM will ensure that Arc stays fast, secure, and reliable. 

Arc is bringing together leading players from across the digital asset ecosystem, from decentralized and centralized exchanges to market makers, lenders, and custodians. DEXs like Uniswap and Curve provide onchain liquidity, while Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood expand global access.

Major market makers like Galaxy Digital, Wintermute, and GSR enhance liquidity, and lending platforms such as Aave and Maple support credit and capital efficiency. Custodians like BitGo and Zodia Custody help keep assets secure.

The First Step to Shared Governance

Circle notes that the testnet launch marks the beginning of a network designed to evolve into a distributed, community-driven system.

Over time, it plans to expand validator participation, introduce transparent governance models, and involve the community in its evolution.