- Days to mainnet
- 1800h 00m
- Testnet chain ID
- 5042002
- Avg testnet fee
- $0.004
- Named validators
- 11
- ARC token
- Nonenot launched
Today's briefing · 15 Sept 2026 · 09:00 UTC
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 1: tomorrow, complete
Twelve issues ago this countdown started. Tomorrow the network opens. Here is everything that matters for day one, in the order you will need it — and the few things worth refusing to do.
1
day. See you tomorrow morning
Circle's public mainnet opens tomorrow, September 16. This issue is the field guide.
The day-one sequence
Arc News
Latest coverage
From named publications · refreshed hourly
- The Defiant · AUG 21Circle Targets Sept. 16 for Arc Public Mainnet Launch
- The Crypto Times · AUG 18Uniswap to Bring DeFi Liquidity to Circle’s Arc Mainnet in September
- The Globe and Mail · AUG 17Circle Internet Group Bets on Arc as USDC Surges
- The Defiant · AUG 12Circle’s cirBTC Is Live on Ethereum but Has Only 40 BTC Outstanding
- Yahoo Finance · AUG 8Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire Says This Upcoming Blockchain Is a 'Bigger' Opportunity Than USDC as Company Sets Date for the Network's Launch
- Yahoo Finance · AUG 7Circle Internet Group (CRCL) Launches Arc As Its Growth Story Moves Beyond USDC
- Crypto Briefing · AUG 6Uniswap ranks as top DEX for stablecoin trading ahead of Arc launch
- Yahoo Finance · AUG 6What Is Arc? The Stablecoin Blockchain From USDC Issuer Circle
- Crowdfund Insider · AUG 6Circle Reveals Institutional Validators for Arc Blockchain Ahead of September Mainnet Debut
- Yahoo Finance · AUG 6$15.3T BlackRock Joins Visa and Mastercard to Validate Circle's Arc Blockchain: What's Next for CRCL
- Yahoo Finance · AUG 5Circle's Arc Names Its Founding Validators Ahead of Mainnet Release
- Incrypted · AUG 5Circle Reported USDC Growth and Mainnet Launch of Arc on September 16
Sources named · newest first
Learn
Start here
- 01What is Arc, from absolute zeroArc explained assuming you know nothing about crypto: a payment network built by the company behind the digital dollar, where fees are pennies and settlement is instant.
- 02What is USDC, simplyUSDC is a digital dollar: one token, one dollar, backed by reserves, moving over the internet. How it works, who is behind it, and why it is the money of the Arc network.
- 03Your first Arc walletSet up a wallet for the Arc network from scratch: what a wallet actually is, how to protect the recovery phrase, adding Arc, and trying it free on testnet.
- 04Gas on Arc: why it's dollarsEvery blockchain charges fees called gas. Arc is the first major network where gas is simply dollars — what gas is, why that matters, and what things cost.
- 05The five scams to know before you touch anythingBefore your first real transaction on Arc, learn the five scam patterns that catch newcomers: recovery-phrase theft, malicious signatures, fake tokens, fake support, urgency.
Countdown series
Earlier briefings
T-minus 2 · 14 Sept 2026
T−2
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 2: the testnet's closing numbers
Before the countdown ends, the rehearsal deserves its record. Eleven months of public testnet, in numbers — and what they do and do not predict about Wednesday.
T-minus 3 · 13 Sept 2026
T−3
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 3: when the customer is a machine
Circle lists agentic economic activity among Arc's founding use cases — AI systems paying each other for services, data and work. Three days out, a calm look at the most futuristic line in the pitch.
T-minus 4 · 12 Sept 2026
T−4
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 4: StableFX, or why currencies are the sleeper story
The global currency market moves trillions daily through plumbing built in the 1970s. Arc ships an FX engine in its foundation — and it might be the least-discussed, highest-stakes thing launching this week.
T-minus 5 · 11 Sept 2026
T−5
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 5: what builders are actually shipping for day one
Beyond the marquee DeFi names, a quieter layer determines whether a chain works in week one: the tooling for people who want to build and launch on it. Five days out, here is that layer.
T-minus 6 · 10 Sept 2026
T−6
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 6: the scam wave arrives before the chain does
Every major launch produces a parallel launch nobody announces: the scams. Arc's will be big — institutional headlines plus a rumoured token is the perfect substrate. Here is what the next ten days will throw at you.
T-minus 7 · 09 Sept 2026
T−7
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 7: BUIDL, DTCC, and where the real money enters
One week out. Retail will watch token launches on the 16th; the institutions have already told us their plans — and their calendar runs on quarters, not launch days.
T-minus 8 · 08 Sept 2026
T−8
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 8: the apps waiting at the door
A chain is only as useful as what runs on it — and Arc opens with a day-one roster most new chains spend years assembling. Here is who is live at launch and what each is for.
T-minus 9 · 07 Sept 2026
T−9
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 9: the ARC token file, read soberly
Nine days before mainnet, the loudest Arc topic is a token that doesn't exist. Here is the complete file — what is documented, what is reported, what is invented — in one sitting.
T-minus 10 · 06 Sept 2026
T−10
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 10: read the validator list like a filing
Eleven named institutions will secure Arc at launch. Read as a list, it's a press release. Read as a filing — who's on it, who isn't, what each name is for — it's the clearest statement of what Arc is actually being built to do.
T-minus 11 · 05 Sept 2026
T−11
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 11: the four-tenths-of-a-cent dollar network
Arc's defining feature is that transaction fees are paid in dollars — about $0.004 on average across the testnet. That sounds like a detail. It's actually the whole business model.
T-minus 12 · 04 Sept 2026
T−12
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 12: what actually happens on September 16
In twelve days, Arc's public mainnet opens — but "mainnet launch" is a phrase that hides more than it explains. Here is what concretely changes that day, what doesn't, and what to ignore.
T-minus 18 · 29 Aug 2026
T−18
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 18: the validator list is the whole story
Eleven institutions are named as validators on a chain whose gas is a dollar stablecoin. That combination, not a token, is what makes Arc unusual.
T-minus 19 · 28 Aug 2026
T−19
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 19: what dollar-denominated gas changes for a normal user
Gas paid in USDC means fees you can read without a calculator. It also means one fewer asset you are forced to hold.
T-minus 20 · 27 Aug 2026
T−20
Arc Mainnet, T-minus 20: the fake ARC tokens are already trading
There is no ARC token. There are already contracts named ARC with liquidity, charts and Telegram groups.
Daily briefing
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