BlockBeats reported on August 5th that Circle announced the founding validator lineup for its open blockchain network Arc and confirmed that the public mainnet will launch on September 16, 2026. Currently, Arc has already integrated over 100 ecosystem and institutional builders onto its private mainnet.
The initial founding validators include BlackRock, U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Galaxy, GlobalPay, Intercontinental Exchange, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa. Circle stated that Arc is positioned to serve global financial markets, real-time fund transfers, and on-chain financial applications, emphasizing openness, composability, and institutional-grade compliance and security standards.
In addition, BlackRock expects to deploy its BUIDL fund on Arc; Circle is also working with U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation to support the tokenization of assets held in custody by U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation on Arc starting in the second half of 2027.