Circle’s own blockchain, Arc, now holds more than $1 billion of USDC. That headline is real, and it arrived fast: The Defiant reported the crossing on 27 October, about six weeks after the public mainnet opened on 16 September. The part most celebratory posts skip is in the same report: four addresses hold about 733 million USDC, roughly 73% of everything on the chain.
So the better question isn’t “how big is Arc?” It’s “how many people are actually behind that billion?”
What happened
Arc is a layer-1 chain built by Circle for payments and tokenised assets. Its fees are paid in USDC rather than a separate volatile gas token. According to the Arc data page compiled by Registrai, which reads the chain’s own RPC, Arc held 1,001,498,710 USDC at 06:42 UTC on 28 October, with total value locked (TVL) of about $627 million on DefiLlama and an estimated 425,000 transactions in the previous 24 hours.
As reported by Cryptonews, DefiLlama’s daily data put Arc’s total stablecoin market cap at $993.89 million on 27 October, up 32.38% from $750.80 million a week earlier and up 112% over 30 days. USDC made up 98.54% of it.
One identifiable source of that growth: perpetuals exchange Extended said on 22 October that it had finished moving $120 million of TVL to Arc from Starknet. In the move it swapped wBTC collateral for Circle’s cirBTC and dropped USDT support entirely.
Our math: how concentrated is $1 billion?
Using the 28 October RPC figure and The Defiant’s top-four count:
| Slice of Arc’s USDC | Amount (USDC) | Share | In rupees (₹95.2/$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total on Arc | 1,001.5 million | 100% | ≈ ₹9,534 crore |
| Top 4 addresses | ≈ 733 million | ≈ 73% | ≈ ₹6,978 crore |
| Average per top-4 address | ≈ 183 million | ≈ 18% | ≈ ₹1,745 crore |
| Everyone else combined | ≈ 268.5 million | ≈ 27% | ≈ ₹2,556 crore |
Put plainly: each of the four biggest addresses holds, on average, about two-thirds as much as the rest of the chain put together.
Two cautions before reading too much into it. First, the top addresses include smart-contract wallets, and a contract can pool money from many users, so four addresses is not the same as four owners. Second, Cryptonews noted the data does not show whether the balances belong to Circle’s treasury or market makers. Supply measures dollars parked on Arc, not dollars being used.
Why it still matters
Arc is not a typical crypto chain. Its validators are permissioned, under a proof-of-authority model, and its founding validator list includes BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, Mastercard, Standard Chartered and ICE, per the Registrai summary of Circle’s launch material. Circle has said it is exploring a move toward proof of stake in 2027.
That design is aimed at banks and payment firms, not DeFi traders. A billion dollars in six weeks shows that money will move to a chain where fees are paid in dollars. Whether that money becomes payments and remittances, rather than exchange collateral, is what the next few months will show.
What it means for Indian investors
- The “SBI” on Arc’s validator list is SBI Group of Japan, not State Bank of India. No Indian bank is among the named founding validators.
- Tax doesn’t change by chain. USDC on Arc, Ethereum or Solana is a virtual digital asset in India: gains are taxed at 30% plus 4% cess, with 1% TDS on transfers. Stablecoin gains are usually small, but TDS still applies when you sell.
- Check the premium before buying. Indian exchanges often price dollar stablecoins above the official rate. On 28 October USDC traded at about ₹95.08 on CoinGecko against an official USD/INR of about ₹95.2. Our USDT to INR converter shows the full buy and sell maths with fees, GST and TDS.
- Yield is a separate question. Holding USDC on Arc earns nothing by itself. If you are comparing a stablecoin with a bank deposit, see our stablecoin yield vs FD calculator.
Earlier this week we looked at Circle Gateway moving wrapped bitcoin across chains for 1 basis point, the same cirBTC that Extended now uses on Arc. Track the coin itself on our USDC price page, and find all our calculators on the tools page.
BtcMedia verdict
The billion is real; the breadth isn’t proven yet. A chain where 73% of the money sits in four addresses is closer to a few large accounts than to a broad user base. The number to watch is the “everyone else” row, about $268.5 million today. If that grows faster than the top four, Arc is gaining real users. If not, the headline is mostly a few big balances.
FAQ
What is Circle’s Arc? A layer-1 blockchain run by Circle, the USDC issuer, that charges fees in USDC. Its public mainnet opened on 16 September 2026.
Is the $1 billion all from users? Not necessarily. About 73% sits in four addresses, some of them smart contracts, and the data doesn’t show who owns them.
Can Indians use USDC on Arc? Holding USDC is legal in India, but it is taxed as a virtual digital asset at 30% plus cess, with 1% TDS on transfers. Check whether your exchange supports the Arc network before withdrawing.
How we calculated this: Arc USDC supply from the Arc RPC via Registrai (28 Oct 2026, 06:42 UTC), top-four holdings from The Defiant, USD/INR 95.2 from open.er-api.com (28 Oct 2026, 5:32 AM IST), checked at about 2:50 PM IST.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice.