At launch, Arc is expected to support a broad ecosystem of DeFi protocols, payment providers, exchanges, wallets, and infrastructure firms. Circle has tapped some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC, Standard Chartered, Galaxy, ICE, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Global Payments, and Sumitomo Corporation, to serve as founding validators for Arc ahead of its September 16 mainnet launch, according to a Wednesday statement. Arc is Circle’s purpose-built layer 1 blockchain for stablecoin-native payments, settlement, and tokenized financial markets. Additional integrations under evaluation by BNY and Standard Chartered include digital asset custody, stablecoin access, tokenized asset settlement, foreign exchange, and repo infrastructure. Circle said Arc will debut with developer tools, AI-assisted smart contract capabilities, and infrastructure for issuing and managing tokenized real-world assets.