Circle's Arc mainnet goes live with $3.5B day-one USDC volume; ARC tokens slump up to 53% amid launch backlash

Circle's Arc mainnet went live September 16, 2026, settling in USDC, with BlackRock, Visa and DTCC among founding validators; CEO Jeremy Allaire said day-one USDC transaction volume reached $3.5B, with ~$410M in DEX volume across 7.76M transactions, ~82% from meme-coin platforms. ARC tokens then fell as much as 53% (Argus -53%, Tolly -59%) as the launch livestream drew criticism over its participants, which reports say fueled a sell-off.

Detected & updated continuously · Source: Nebula