Circle (CRCL), the company behind the $76 billion stablecoin is moving closer to the launch of its payments-focused Arc blockchain, entering a testing phase with a large list of institutional partners.
The company announced Tuesday that it has deployed the public testnet version of Arc, enabling more than 100 financial institutions, asset managers and technology companies already involved, such as Visa, HSBC, BlackRock and Anthropic.
“Together, these companies reach billions of users, move, exchange and store hundreds of billions in assets and payments, and support local economies across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle.
The move comes as stablecoins, a $300 billion class of crypto tokens tied to fiat currency, are increasingly integrated into traditional finance. At the same time, large banks and asset managers are also exploring the use of blockchains to move instruments such as bonds, funds and credit, often referred to as real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, for operational gains.
They are expected to be huge markets. Citi predicts that stablecoins could be worth $4 trillion by the end of the decade, while tokenized assets could reach a market size of nearly $19 trillion by 2033, according to BCG and Ripple.
Banks and asset managers on board
Circle said Arc is meant to serve as a base layer for financial services, from tokenized funds, cross-border payments to foreign exchange (FX) settlement. It will offer features such as US dollar-based fees, sub-second settlement and optional privacy controls, tightly integrated with Circle’s stablecoin and payments platform.
Companies exploring Arc include traditional finance heavyweights like State Street, Deutsche Bank, Invesco and Société Générale. They are joined by digital asset players including Coinbase and Kraken, fintechs like Nuvei and Brex, and global technology providers like AWS and Mastercard.
For example, Visa is using the testnet to evaluate how a payment infrastructure backed by stablecoins could accelerate global monetary movements. BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said the company was exploring how Arc’s support for stable coin settlement and on-chain foreign exchange could “unlock additional utility” for capital markets.
Invesco is using the testnet to assess how blockchain could help tokenized funds operate more efficiently, while Société Générale is focusing on programmable settlement and transparency of cross-border capital flows. HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, said it was testing Arc’s potential for faster and more transparent international payments.
State Street is testing digital asset custody integrations. SBI Holdings is evaluating how regulated financial services could be extended to onchain environments. Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and First Abu Dhabi Bank are also participating, reflecting growing interest from global banking networks.
The launch 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 settlements. Exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Coincheck are participating, alongside DeFi protocols including Aave Curve (CRV) and Maple (SIROP).
Anthropic, the company behind artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Claude, also plans to integrate AI-based development tools into Arc.
Stablecoin issuers in several regions are also active on the testnet, including Forte from Australia (AUDF), Avenia from Brazil (BRLA), Juno from Mexico (MXNB), and Coins.ph from the Philippines (PHPC). These regional issuers are evaluating Arc’s stablecoin swap and exchange infrastructure.
Circle said its long-term goal is for Arc to evolve into a decentralized, community-governed system. Although Circle is leading the initial deployment, the roadmap includes opening up validator participation and establishing public governance frameworks to guide future development of the network.
Read more: Why Circle and Stripe (and many others) are launching their own blockchains
