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Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire Calls Arc ‘an Economic OS for the internet’
In a recent CNBC interview, Jeremy Allaire outlined dollar-priced fees, fast finality, and privacy for Arc, while pointing to rising USDC use in emerging markets.
Updated Nov 1, 2025, 6:45 p.m. Published Nov 1, 2025, 6:42 p.m.
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What to know:
- Arc’s public testnet launched Oct. 28; mainnet is targeted for 2026.
- Design centers on USDC-priced fees, sub-second finality, and configurable privacy.
- Allaire said USDC growth is strong in emerging markets, citing the Middle East and Circle’s UAE regulatory build-out.
Speaking with CNBC's Sara Eisen at the sidelines the 2025 edition of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Circle Internet Group (CRCL) Jeremy Allaire described Arc as “an economic OS for the internet,” arguing that core financial workflows are moving on chain and need predictable costs and performance.
He said Arc is built for payments, foreign exchange, lending, and capital-markets activity, with dollar-denominated fees, sub-second settlement, and privacy controls meant to let enterprises shield sensitive balances or flows when required. The public testnet went live Oct. 28, with mainnet targeted for 2026 after builders trial smart contracts, transaction flows, and token launches.
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Read more: Circle, Issuer of USDC, Starts Testing Arc Blockchain With Big Institutions Onboard
Allaire emphasized USDC as the practical bridge for those use cases. He pushed back on the idea that growth is flat, saying usage has expanded through 2025 and that demand from emerging markets is “very significant,” led by firms that want to settle in dollars without the frictions of legacy cross-border banking. He singled out the Middle East, where businesses use digital dollars to move value quickly across trading partners.
That focus aligns with Circle’s UAE plans. Allaire referenced regulatory steps that position the company to operate in the region and support institutions that want on-chain dollar rails. He also linked momentum to policy clarity, saying recent U.S. legislation for payment stablecoins has helped larger companies integrate stablecoin payments, FX, and credit workflows.
On ecosystem breadth, Allaire said the Arc announcement involved well over 100 companies across banking, payments, large technology, and AI. He framed Arc’s business model as transactional and ecosystem-driven, with a long-term goal for broadly distributed operations and governance rather than a single-company walled garden.
The framing is straightforward: Arc supplies a dollar-priced, high-throughput environment for stablecoin-native finance, while USDC serves as the settlement and fee unit developers can plan around. Allaire’s message to enterprises was that predictable costs, fast finality, and compliance-friendly privacy can move more of the “financial guts” of commerce to programmable rails.
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