The Journal · Network design
A token was minted. A market was not opened.
Circle’s Arc network uses USDC for fees and has minted ARC as a coordination asset that is explicitly not live. That inversion is the design.
Arc is live as a permissioned, proof-of-authority network for financial activity. Fees are paid in USDC, not in ARC. Circle has minted a fixed initial supply of 10 billion ARC and has been explicit: the mint is a technical milestone, ARC is not live for trading, staking, governance, fees or utility, and the mint is not a commitment to a public launch. A possible move toward proof of stake has been discussed for 2027. It can still change.
Most crypto networks start with a token and go looking for a job. This one starts with a settlement network and refuses to let the coordination asset pretend to be money.
In this piece
- 01Pay the fee in the unit the treasury already holds
- 02Operating money and coordination capital
- 03There is nothing to speculate on, by the issuer’s own account
- 04Build before any decentralisation event
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