Circle has announced a series of major financial industry partnerships, including VISA and Mastercard, ahead of the public launch of its Arc blockchain network, signalling growing momentum behind institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure designed to support secure, compliant and fraud-resistant financial services.
Arc, which launches publicly on 16 September 2026, is currently operating in a private mainnet with more than 100 financial institutions, technology providers and ecosystem partners. Its founding validator cohort includes BlackRock, DTCC, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, Global Payments, MoneyGram, SBI Group, ICE, Galaxy and Sumitomo Corporation.
The development reflects the financial sector’s increasing focus on combining blockchain technology with the governance, transparency and operational controls required for regulated payments and digital assets.
The network is being designed to support use cases including real-time settlement, stablecoin payments, tokenised assets, AI-enabled financial services and cross-border money movement, while maintaining the security, compliance and auditability expected by banks and payment providers.
Circle says Arc’s institutional validator model differs from traditional public blockchains by placing responsibility for securing the network in the hands of regulated financial organisations, helping create trusted infrastructure for large-scale financial applications.
Several major institutions are already planning integrations. BlackRock intends to deploy its tokenised money market fund, BUIDL, on Arc, allowing investors to subscribe, redeem and manage assets within a single blockchain environment. DTCC is also collaborating with Circle on plans to tokenise DTC-custodied assets from 2027, supporting faster settlement and greater asset mobility while maintaining existing investor protections.
The ecosystem is also attracting leading payment providers, exchanges and wallet platforms including Rain, Thunes, Fireblocks, Kraken, Ledger, MetaMask and Binance Wallet, alongside DeFi protocols such as Aave, Uniswap and Morpho.
Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Circle, said Arc has been built to combine the openness of blockchain technology with the trust, resilience and compliance standards required by global financial markets.
The launch highlights the continued evolution of digital payments towards blockchain networks where governance, identity, security and regulatory compliance are embedded into the infrastructure, helping reduce risk while enabling faster, always-on financial services.
