Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
Stablecoin issuer Circle, the company behind the USDC dollar-pegged stablecoin, is planning a native token for its ARC layer-1 blockchain testnet, an enterprise-focused Ethereum Virtual Machine network.
Circle launched the Arc testnet in October, with participation from investment bank Goldman Sachs, asset manager BlackRock, credit card company Visa and over 100 other companies.
The company, which disclosed plans for the new token alongside its earnings on Wednesday, initially planned to center gas fees on the Arc network around USDC (USDC) and other stablecoins.
According to a statement, Circle’s long-term goal is to pivot Arc to a decentralized governance model of geographically distributed validators:
“Circle is exploring the possibility of launching a native token on the Arc network, which could foster network participation to drive adoption, further align the interests of Arc stakeholders, and support the long-term growth and success of the Arc network.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Circle but had not received a response at time of publication.
Related: Circle’s Arc attracts South Korea’s first won-backed stablecoin experiment
Circle posts strong Q3 financial results
The company also disclosed its financial results for the third quarter of 2025, reporting revenue of $740 million, a 66% year-over-year increase. Circle reported net income of $214 million in Q3, representing a 202% gain over the period.
However, costs also rose, with distribution and transaction costs rising by 74% compared with 2024, totaling $448 million in the last quarter.
Additionally, operating costs rose by 70% in Q3, reaching $211 million, which the company attributed to a 14% increase in its workforce and higher compensation costs for employees.
Circle’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a critical metric for publicly-traded stocks, increased by 78% year-over-year, totaling $166 million for the quarter.
Appchains: the future of crypto and blockchain?
The launch of the Arc network highlights the growing institutional involvement in crypto and the shift toward application-specific blockchain networks tailored for specific use cases, platforms, and digital assets.
Developers turning to application-specific blockchain networks aim to circumvent the relatively low speed, scalability issues, and high fees associated with general-purpose blockchain networks that handle mixed traffic.
Hyperliquid and Injective protocols are examples of applications built on app-specific layer-1 blockchain networks.
However, critics argue that app-specific blockchains fragment liquidity, are prone to hacking due to centralization, and lack the community support that is a feature of general-purpose blockchain networks with distributed governance.
“Appchains also grossly underestimate the cost of infrastructure and compliance: explorers, custody, exchanges, oracles, bridges, toolkits, integrated development environments, on/off ramps, native issuance and integration, and regulatory compliance,” Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs, said.
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, the lead development team for the Polygon layer-2 blockchain network, disagreed with Cronje, arguing that more robust interoperability between blockchain networks is already happening and will solve these issues.
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