Circle Targets Banks With New Enterprise Blockchain — Can It Win?
Circle Internet Group has unveiled an aggressive 2026 roadmap centered on Arc, its Layer-1 blockchain designed to function an “Economic Operating System” for international finance.
The firm goals to push Arc from testnet towards manufacturing whereas scaling its Circle Payments Network and StableFX functions to seize enterprise market share in stablecoin-powered settlement.
The technique comes as Circle faces mounting competitors from Tether, which generated $5.2 billion in revenue during 2025 and now controls 60.1% of the $311 billion stablecoin market by way of USDT.
Circle’s USDC holds 24.2% market share at $72.4 billion circulation, trailing considerably regardless of 108% year-over-year development.
Arc Testnet Processes 150M Transactions
Arc’s public testnet has processed greater than 150 million transactions since launching in October 2025, with near 1.5 million transacting wallets and common settlement instances round 0.5 seconds, in response to Circle’s newest product replace.
The community attracted over 100 institutional individuals, together with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Société Générale, and Visa throughout its first 90 days.
Circle Chief Product & Technology Officer Nikhil Chandhok mentioned the corporate is working towards manufacturing readiness by “evolving the validator set towards larger distribution” and “standing up a governance mannequin that aligns with institutional danger and compliance expectations.“
The blockchain makes use of USDC as its native fuel token and offers deterministic sub-second finality particularly designed for regulated monetary operations.
The firm has built-in Arc with its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which now connects 19 blockchains and has processed $126 billion in cumulative quantity as of December 2025.
Circle launched Gateway, a chain-agnostic system that unifies USDC balances throughout networks, and launched Build, a collection of AI developer instruments alongside App Kits, to speed up software growth.
Tether’s Dominance and Federal Push Pressure Circle’s Market Position
Circle’s enterprise offensive unfolds as Tether expands past stablecoins into conventional finance, lately accumulating 140 tons of gold worth $23 billion and launching USAT, a federally regulated stablecoin beneath America’s new GENIUS Act framework.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino advised Bloomberg that the corporate is “quickly changing into mainly one of many largest, let’s say, gold central banks on the planet,” whereas shopping for greater than a ton per week.
Tether emerged as essentially the most worthwhile crypto entity in 2025, capturing 41.9% of all stablecoin-related income and sustaining its place because the third-largest digital asset globally at $186.8 billion market worth.
The firm holds extra U.S. Treasuries than Germany, South Korea, or Australia, cementing its function as a macroeconomic participant.
Meanwhile, Circle’s Circle Payments Network has enrolled 29 monetary establishments since launching in May 2025, with 55 present process eligibility critiques and 500 within the pipeline.
The community operates throughout eight international locations and reached $3.4 billion in annualized transaction volumes, partnering with Binance, Corpay, FIS, Fiserv, and OKX.
Major Financial Institutions Signal Blockchain Settlement Shift
BlackRock is staffing up for its next crypto expansion phase, posting digital asset roles throughout New York, London, and Singapore with managing director positions providing as much as $350,000 yearly.
The asset supervisor accepted its tokenized BUIDL fund as collateral at Binance and recognized Bitcoin publicity as a core portfolio constructing block for 2025.
Visa additionally announced in December 2025 that it’ll permit U.S. monetary establishments to settle transactions utilizing USDC on Solana, providing “seven-day availability and improved resilience throughout weekends and holidays.“
Initial individuals, Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, are already settling with Visa in USDC, with a broader U.S. rollout deliberate by way of 2026.
“Financial establishments are getting ready to make use of stablecoins as a part of their treasury operations,” mentioned Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships.
The funds large is serving as a design accomplice for Arc and plans to function a validator node as soon as the blockchain launches.
Visa Inc. is about to permit stablecoin-based settlement throughout its US funds community, increasing its suite of crypto-related providers.$USDC #Visa https://t.co/i6vVCqWAiH
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) December 16, 2025
Circle’s partnership technique extends to Asia, the place the corporate signed a memorandum of understanding with LianLian Global in December 2025 to discover stablecoin-backed cost infrastructure for worldwide retailers.
The collaboration will assess how USDC can “assist quicker and extra resilient transactions particularly in high-volume worldwide cost flows,” in response to the announcement.
The firm’s tokenized cash market fund, USYC, expanded greater than 200% since June 2025 to roughly $1.6 billion in belongings as of January 2026, whereas StableFX launched on Arc testnet to allow 24/7 institutional stablecoin overseas alternate buying and selling.
Circle reported $214 million net income for Q3 2025 as USDC circulation surged to $73.7 billion.
Chandhok emphasised that Arc and the broader platform purpose to make “worth strikes with the identical openness, reliability, determinism, and velocity as data,” positioning Circle to compete as stablecoins turn out to be “the connective tissue of the worldwide digital economic system.“
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