‘We Do See Significant Revenue Potential From Arc Over Time’

Circle Internet Group CEO Jeremy Allaire recently unveiled Arc, a new blockchain platform described as “an economic OS for the internet.” Allaire made the announcement at the 2025 edition of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen.

According to Allaire, Arc is specifically designed for core financial workflows such as payments, foreign exchange, lending, and capital-markets activities. The platform aims to provide predictable costs and performance, with features like dollar-denominated fees, sub-second settlement, and privacy controls for enterprises to protect sensitive information. The public testnet for Arc was launched on October 28, with the mainnet expected to go live in 2026 after further testing by developers.

Allaire highlighted the role of USDC, Circle’s stablecoin, as a bridge for various use cases on the Arc platform. He refuted claims of stagnant growth, pointing out that usage of USDC has actually increased throughout 2025, particularly in emerging markets where businesses seek to settle transactions in dollars without the complexities of traditional cross-border banking. The Middle East, in particular, has shown a strong interest in using digital dollars for quick and efficient value transfers among trading partners.

In line with this focus, Circle has set its sights on the UAE market, where regulatory developments have paved the way for the company to operate and support institutions looking to leverage on-chain dollar transactions. Allaire also credited recent U.S. legislation for payment stablecoins as a catalyst for larger companies to integrate stablecoin payments, foreign exchange, and credit workflows.

Allaire emphasized the collaborative nature of the Arc platform, noting the involvement of over 100 companies from various sectors such as banking, payments, technology, and AI. He described Arc’s business model as transactional and ecosystem-driven, with a long-term vision of decentralized operations and governance rather than a centralized approach.

Overall, the goal of Arc is to provide a high-throughput environment for stablecoin-native finance, with USDC serving as the settlement and fee unit for developers. Allaire’s message to enterprises is clear: by offering predictable costs, fast transaction finality, and compliance-friendly privacy features, Arc aims to facilitate the migration of financial processes to programmable blockchain networks.