Arc Mainnet Is Live: Why Does the Network Use USDC for Gasfee?

Arc Mainnet opened to the public on September 16, 2026. Unlike most Layer 1 networks, Arc does not require users to hold a freely floating native token to pay transaction fees. Gas is paid in USDC, a stablecoin designed to track the value of the U.S. dollar.

Arc Mainnet launched publicly on September 16, 2026, with USDC as native gas and sub-second deterministic finality. Source: Arc Network, September 16, 2026. 

This changes the basic blockchain experience. On Ethereum, a user sending USDC still needs ETH to pay gas. On Arc, the asset being transferred and the asset used for transaction fees can come from the same USDC balance. Users do not need to acquire a second token simply to move their funds.

The model supports Arc’s goal of becoming infrastructure for payments, foreign exchange, lending, treasury management, tokenized assets, and economic activity performed by AI agents. USDC-denominated fees are easier to budget in dollar terms than fees tied to a volatile network token.

Predictability does not eliminate risk. Arc still depends on USDC, currently operates with permissioned validators, and has a very short public-mainnet history. Users must also distinguish Arc Network from the proposed ARC coordination token, which has not been publicly launched.

What Is Arc Network?

Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain designed for stablecoin-native financial activity. It was launched by Arc Network Services LLC and is closely integrated with Circle infrastructure, including USDC, EURC, Circle CCTP, and Circle Gateway.

Arc maintains its own ledger and processes its own transactions. It is not an Ethereum Layer 2 and does not rely on Ethereum to settle every transaction. Its execution environment is EVM-compatible, allowing developers to deploy Solidity contracts and use familiar Ethereum tools.

The architecture separates two main functions:

• The consensus layer uses Malachite BFT to coordinate validators and finalize blocks.

• The execution layer uses Reth, a Rust-based Ethereum client, to run transactions and smart contracts.

• USDC serves as the native gas asset.

• EVM compatibility supports established Ethereum development tools.

• Developer access is permissionless, while validator participation remains permissioned.

Arc is designed to settle payments, stablecoin FX, tokenized assets, on-chain credit, corporate liquidity flows, and machine-to-machine transactions.

Why Use USDC for Gas?

Gas represents the cost of consuming blockchain computation. It is paid whenever a user transfers an asset, swaps tokens, supplies liquidity, or interacts with a smart contract.

Most blockchains use a volatile native asset for this purpose. Arc instead uses USDC.

A. One Balance for Value and Fees

A user holding USDC on Arc can transfer the asset and pay gas from the same balance. No separate ETH-like asset is required.

Users must still retain enough USDC for the fee. Sending the full wallet balance may leave the account unable to submit another transaction. One balance does not mean free gas.

B. Dollar-Denominated Fee Display

Because USDC is designed to remain close to US$1, wallets can display fees directly in dollar terms. Arc’s Fee Manager uses an exponentially weighted moving average to smooth base-fee changes rather than passing every short demand spike directly to users.

The normal-condition design target is approximately US$0.01 per transaction. It is a target, not a fixed-price guarantee. Complex smart-contract activity consumes more gas than a basic transfer, and network conditions can change as mainnet usage grows.

C. Fees Are Separated from the ARC Token

Arc has designed a potential coordination asset called ARC. However, network fees remain payable in USDC.

This separates user costs from the future market price of ARC. The proposed token may eventually coordinate security, staking, utility, and governance, while USDC remains the gas asset.

D. Better Budgeting for Automated Payments

Businesses need costs that can be estimated. If an application sends thousands of small payments, sudden changes in the gas token’s price make operating budgets difficult to manage.

USDC provides a familiar accounting unit for merchant settlement, vendor payments, remittances, treasury operations, and AI-agent transactions. Actual predictability still depends on the USDC peg, network performance, and contract complexity.

Arc’s Fee Manager uses USDC and an EWMA-smoothed base-fee model. The approximately US$0.01 figure is a normal-condition design target, not a guaranteed fee for every transaction. Source: Arc Documentation, accessed September 17, 2026.

How Arc Transaction Fees Work

Arc retains the EVM concepts of gas used and effective gas price:

Transaction fee = gas used × effective gas price

The difference is the payment unit. Arc gas values are denominated in fractions of USDC rather than ETH.

A simple transfer may use roughly 21,000 gas, while a token transfer or DeFi contract call may consume substantially more. Wallets estimate a maximum amount before approval, but users are charged only for the gas actually consumed at the effective gas price.

Users should separate three cost layers:

• Network gas paid to process the Arc transaction.

• Protocol fees charged by the application.

• Spread and slippage caused by available liquidity.

Low gas does not guarantee a cheap swap. A transaction may cost less than one cent in network fees while losing more through a pool fee or price impact.

Fast Finality Comes with a Trade-off

Arc uses Malachite BFT. Validators pre-commit blocks through a two-thirds supermajority before they are considered final. Once committed, transactions do not require a sequence of additional confirmations.

This enables sub-second deterministic finality, which can reduce settlement delays for exchanges, payment providers, and financial applications.

The trade-off is validator access. Arc launched with a permissioned validator set. Anyone can operate a full node and verify blocks, but only selected validators can propose and vote on blocks.

Arc is therefore open at the application and development layers but not yet permissionless at the validator layer. The network is exploring a transition from Proof of Authority toward Proof of Stake in 2027. That roadmap should not be treated as completed implementation.

USDC Gas Replaces One Risk with Another

Stablecoin gas reduces fee volatility but creates a dependency on an issued asset.

USDC issuance and redemption are managed by Circle. A depeg, redemption restriction, operational outage, or regulatory event could affect Arc users because USDC is required for gas.

The dependency stack includes:

• USDC availability and peg stability.

• Arc network execution and consensus.

• Wallet and exchange support.

• Bridge and CCTP operations.

• The security of third-party applications and contracts.

Arc also exposes USDC through a native 18-decimal gas interface and a standard 6-decimal ERC-20 interface. They represent the same economic balance, but exchanges and developers must account for the decimal difference correctly.

Arc, ARC, and Unrelated Tokens

Arc’s mainnet launch was followed by numerous third-party tokens using the Arc name or ARC ticker. A shared name does not prove official affiliation.

Circle completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens during the mainnet-launch week. Arc describes ARC as a potential coordination asset for security, utility, and governance. It has also stated that the mint is not a public launch or a commitment to list or distribute the token.

As of September 17, 2026:

• Arc Mainnet is operational.

• USDC pays network gas.

• The initial ARC supply has been minted.

• ARC has not been publicly launched.

• Public distribution and final utility remain unconfirmed.

• Third-party tokens using ARC are not automatically official Arc assets.

The contract address, not the name or logo, identifies a specific on-chain asset.

What Arc Means for Indonesian Users

Arc may simplify stablecoin transfers because users do not need a separate gas token. MEXC began supporting USDC deposits through the Arc network on September 16, 2026, at 10:00 UTC, or 17:00 WIB. Withdrawal availability should be checked directly because it depends on network and liquidity readiness.

This support does not make USDC legal tender in Indonesia. The rupiah remains the lawful payment instrument for domestic transactions. USDC should be understood as a digital asset and transfer infrastructure subject to applicable rules.

Before transferring funds, users should:

• Confirm that both platforms support Arc.

• Verify the destination address and network.

• Keep enough USDC for gas.

• Send a small test transaction.

• Check current deposit and withdrawal status.

• Avoid assuming that similarly named ARC tokens are official.

What Comes Next?

Arc’s public launch proves that the network has entered production. It does not prove durable adoption.

The useful signals will be recurring stablecoin settlement, depth of on-chain liquidity, fee stability during demand spikes, real business activity, validator expansion, and transparent progress toward a broader security model.

The ARC token also requires careful monitoring. A genesis mint is not a listing date, airdrop announcement, or guarantee of economic value.

Conclusion

Arc uses USDC for gas to remove the need for a separate fee token and make transaction costs easier to understand in dollar terms. The design is well suited to payments, treasury operations, FX, tokenized assets, and automated financial applications.

It does not remove issuer, network, bridge, validator, or smart-contract risk. Cheap network gas also does not eliminate protocol fees, spread, or slippage.

Arc’s real test begins after launch. The network must show sustained activity, deep liquidity, stable fees under load, and a credible path toward broader validator participation.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or trading advice. Arc is a new network with a limited public-mainnet history. Features, fees, validators, asset support, and service availability may change. USDC carries issuer, reserve, depeg, smart-contract, network, and regulatory risks. Always verify the network, destination address, and current deposit or withdrawal status before transferring assets.