How Circle’s institutional Arc blockchain got taken over by memecoins on day one - CoinDesk
Summary
Circle launched its Arc blockchain on Wednesday with backing from BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard and DTCC, and CEO Jeremy Allaire called it the company's most significant launch since USDC. The chain processed 7.83 million transactions in its first 24 hours, but the payments use case it was built for barely registered, with only about 624,000 USDC transfers over the chain's entire life. Day-one DEX volume reached roughly $82 million, yet the top tokens including TOLLY, LONG and COOL are down 56% to 77% from launch highs. Circle's VP of product for Arc posted an AI-generated image promoting a memecoin on launch day, drawing about 1 million views and accusations that the company was shilling tokens to bootstrap its own network.
Key points
- Arc processed 7.83 million transactions in its first 24 hours, but only about 624,000 USDC transfers over the chain's entire life.
- Day-one DEX volume reached roughly $82 million, compared with the $878 million Robinhood Chain did on July 12.
- Top tokens including TOLLY, LONG and COOL are down 56% to 77% from launch highs.
- Circle's VP of product for Arc posted an AI-generated image promoting a memecoin, drawing about 1 million views.
- Arc's largest token, ARGUS, is worth $16 million, while its second- and third-largest are Circle's own products cirBTC and EURC.
Timeline
Circle launched the Arc blockchain with backing from BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard and DTCC.
The chain processed 7.83 million transactions but only about 624,000 USDC transfers.
Circle's VP of product for Arc posted an AI-generated image promoting a memecoin, drawing about 1 million views.
Day-one DEX volume reached roughly $82 million, with top tokens down 56% to 77% from launch highs.
“"Arc is one day old, and every coin is already down like 50-80%," trader wale.moca posted on X.”
Background
Circle built Arc as a corporate-focused blockchain with half-second blocks and no congestion, designed for regulated finance.
Why it matters
The launch highlights the difficulty of separating institutional infrastructure from speculative memecoin culture, as seen with the Robinhood Chain in July.
What's next
Despite waning sentiment, DeFi platforms like Aave and Morpho are live on the chain, and Circle has not responded to criticism.