Arc Testnet Support

DFNS now supports Arc, Circle's purpose-built Layer 1, on its public testnet, bringing programmable wallet operations for payments, FX, treasury, and tokenized assets to Arc's stablecoin-native rails.

Chris Sutton
Chris Sutton
| 3 min read

DFNS now supports Arc’s testnet.

DFNS now supports Arc on its public testnet, bringing Circle’s purpose-built Layer 1 into the DFNS platform as a fully operational environment for institutions and developers building payments, FX, treasury, and tokenized asset applications on stablecoin-native rails. With Arc’s mainnet beta expected later in 2026, this integration lets teams start building and testing production-grade wallet operations on Arc today.

What is Arc?

Arc is an open, EVM-compatible blockchain built by Circle and purpose-built specifically for payments, settlement, FX, and financial coordination rather than as a general-purpose chain. Its public testnet launched in October 2025, with the mainnet beta rollout expected sometime in 2026.

Arc has drawn unusually broad institutional participation for a pre-production network. Its testnet involves over 100 institutions, including BNY Mellon, Intercontinental Exchange, State Street, BlackRock, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Mastercard, Visa, AWS, Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood.

Key technical characteristics include:

  • USDC as native gas: transaction fees are paid in USDC by default, giving predictable, dollar-denominated costs and removing the need to hold a volatile native token.
  • Full EVM compatibility: developers can build on Arc using familiar Ethereum tooling such as Solidity, Foundry, and Hardhat rather than learning a new environment.
  • Deterministic sub-second finality: Arc uses the Malachite BFT consensus engine, a high-performance implementation of Tendermint, to deliver finality in under one second.
  • Built-in FX engine: a native FX layer supports real-time stablecoin conversions and cross-border payments.
  • Opt-in privacy: an optional privacy layer, exposed through an EVM precompile, lets enterprises selectively shield sensitive financial data while preserving auditability.
  • Circle platform integration: native support for USDC, EURC, USYC, Mint, Wallets, CCTP, Gateway, Paymaster, and the Circle Payments Network.
  • Designed for all tokenized value: beyond USDC, Arc is built to host other stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and tokenized equities, commodities, and real estate.

Full testnet support on DFNS

DFNS provides support for Arc testnet, giving institutions and developers access to a complete, programmable wallet infrastructure layer:

  • Wallet creation: provisioning via API and dashboard
  • Native transfers: send and receive testnet USDC
  • Token transfers: support for tokens deployed on Arc, including stablecoins and tokenized assets
  • Smart contract execution: interact with onchain applications and financial workflows
  • Transaction broadcast: submit transactions to Arc testnet
  • Secure signing: all operations run through DFNS’ key orchestrator (MPC, HSM, Offline Signer)
  • Balance retrieval: query USDC and token balances across wallets
  • Webhook notifications: real-time transaction and balance updates

All operations are secured by DFNS’ zero trust architecture trusted by 400+ fintechs and institutions globally, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 certifications.

Use cases

Arc’s combination of USDC-native gas, EVM compatibility, sub-second finality, and a built-in FX engine makes it a strong environment for institutional payments and settlement use cases. Examples include:

  • Stablecoin payments and settlement: leverage Arc’s predictable dollar-denominated fees and sub-second finality for high-throughput payment flows
  • Cross-border FX: use Arc’s native FX engine for real-time multi-currency stablecoin conversions across corridors
  • Treasury automation: manage USDC and token balances programmatically with policy enforcement, approval quorums, and audit trails built in
  • Real-world asset tokenization: issue, manage, and transfer tokenized financial assets with compliant wallet infrastructure and granular approval workflows
  • Cross-chain applications: connect Arc to other networks through CCTP and Gateway, orchestrating flows across chains from a single DFNS control plane

Adding Arc testnet means institutions can build, test, and validate their Arc integration on DFNS now, ahead of mainnet, with a clear path to production wallet operations when Arc goes live.

Arc joins 60+ blockchain networks supported on DFNS, powering digital asset operations for 400+ institutional clients worldwide.

Learn more about Arc: arc.io

Get started on DFNS: app.dfns.io

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