CIRCLE LAUNCHES ARC PUBLIC TESTNET

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Circle has launched the public testnet for Arc, an open Layer 1 blockchain designed to serve as the Economic Operating System (OS) for the internet. It enables stablecoin payments, tokenized assets, and real-world financial activity to move onchain. The network already includes early participation from global banks, asset managers, and fintechs such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Visa, and Mastercard, alongside developers and protocols like Aave, Uniswap, Curve, Chainlink, and LayerZero. Arc will use USDC as native gas, offer sub-second finality via its Malachite consensus engine, and integrate Circle's full platform for liquidity, payments, and cross-chain interoperability.