Circle’s Arc network has surpassed $1 billion in native USDC roughly six weeks after opening its public mainnet, rapidly building a dollar-denominated liquidity base on the new Layer 1. In an official Arc update, the network confirmed that native USDC supply had crossed the $1 billion threshold, a milestone reached after Arc launched publicly on September 16.
The balance has continued increasing since that announcement. DeFiLlama’s Arc stablecoin dashboard shows approximately $1.103 billion in total stablecoin market capitalization as of October 29, including about $1.092 billion in USDC. USDC represents roughly 99% of Arc’s tracked stablecoin supply, while total stablecoin capitalization has increased about 54% over seven days. The figures are snapshots and can change as USDC is minted, redeemed or transferred between networks.
Arc has surpassed $1 billion in USDC circulating supply.
A milestone for the network as the ecosystem continues to grow.
— Arc (@arc) October 28, 2026
Large Balances Drive Arc’s Early Supply
The billion-dollar milestone does not mean the same amount entered Arc as fresh external capital. Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol allows native USDC to move between supported networks by burning tokens on the source chain and minting an equivalent amount at the destination. A rise in Arc’s USDC supply can therefore reflect redistribution of existing USDC as well as new issuance, making chain-level supply distinct from global stablecoin inflows.
One identifiable contribution came from perpetuals exchange Extended, which completed the migration of approximately $120 million in TVL from Starknet to Arc on October 22. The platform moved its settlement infrastructure, open positions and orders while switching to native USDC and cirBTC as collateral assets. A single application migration can consequently produce a substantial change in a young network’s stablecoin balance without representing $120 million of newly created capital.
Supply also remains highly concentrated. On-chain analysis around the $1 billion milestone estimated that the four largest addresses held approximately $733 million, or 73% of Arc’s USDC. Four addresses do not necessarily mean four beneficial owners, because exchange wallets, protocols and smart contracts can aggregate funds belonging to many participants. The concentration nevertheless limits what aggregate supply alone can establish about distribution or user adoption.
Liquidity Expands Faster Than Usage Metrics
Arc already has functioning markets capable of deploying part of that stablecoin base. DeFiLlama currently tracks approximately $618 million in DeFi TVL, around $210 million in seven-day DEX volume and more than $1.5 billion in seven-day perpetual volume. Uniswap was among the network’s launch integrations, following earlier work to deploy its protocol and routing infrastructure on Arc. These activity metrics provide more direct evidence of financial usage than stablecoin supply viewed in isolation.
Arc’s rapid buildup also differs from stablecoin changes elsewhere. Aptos has previously crossed the $1 billion stablecoin threshold, while Injective’s native USDC balance has shifted as the Cosmos ecosystem migrates issuance infrastructure. In each case, supply describes assets located on a network at a particular moment, not unique users, transaction demand or permanently committed liquidity.
Circle launched Arc with more than 100 applications and more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders, with USDC serving as the network’s gas asset and native settlement currency. Crossing $1 billion establishes that Arc has accumulated a substantial USDC base quickly, but adoption will be better measured by how that supply is distributed and repeatedly used across trading, lending, payments and settlement.
Jack Reynolds is SatoshiPick’s infrastructure mind. Based in Denmark, he follows Bitcoin, Ethereum, Layer 1 networks, stablecoins and DeFi with a practical question always in the background: does this actually make crypto work better?
His articles focus on the systems beneath the headlines: settlement rails, protocol upgrades, stablecoin usage, DeFi coordination and the regulatory limits around them. Jack avoids turning technical coverage into a maze. He explains what is live, what is still experimental and why the difference matters.