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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.arc.io/llms.txt

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Arc is purpose-built around stablecoins. USDC is the native gas token, so transaction fees are denominated in dollars rather than a volatile asset. EURC and USYC are natively supported alongside USDC, giving applications access to multi-currency payments and onchain yield without bridging or wrapping. There is no volatile native token on Arc.

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USDC as the native gas token

On most EVM blockchains, a volatile token (such as ETH) serves as the native asset for gas fees and value transfer. Arc replaces this with USDC. Every transaction fee, balance, and native transfer on Arc is denominated in USDC. This means:
  • Fees are predictable in dollar terms.
  • You hold a single asset for both gas and application-level transfers.
  • There is no need to acquire or manage a separate volatile token.

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Two interfaces, one balance

USDC on Arc has two interfaces that share the same underlying balance:
InterfaceDecimalsPurpose
Native18Gas accounting, native sends, and msg.value
ERC-206Application-level transfers, approvals, and allowances
The native representation uses 18 decimals, consistent with how ETH works on Ethereum. The ERC-20 interface at 0x3600000000000000000000000000000000000000 uses 6 decimals to match the standard USDC representation on other EVM networks.
The ERC-20 and native interfaces share the same underlying balance. An ERC-20 transfer directly moves the native balance, and a native send is reflected in the ERC-20 balance. These are not two separate tokens. For a conceptual overview of how Arc handles EVM differences, see EVM compatibility. For interface-level developer guidance, see EVM compatibility reference.
Arc emits a unified transfer event for all USDC movements regardless of whether they originate from a native send or an ERC-20 call. This gives wallets and indexers a single source of truth for balance changes. For fee parameters and gas pricing details, see Gas and fees. For the rationale behind stable fee denomination, see Stable fee design.

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Natively supported stablecoins

Beyond USDC, Arc natively supports additional stablecoin assets at the protocol level — meaning they are deployed as pre-configured contracts at genesis, not bridged or wrapped from other blockchains.

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EURC

EURC is Circle’s euro-denominated stablecoin. It is deployed as a standard ERC-20 token on Arc with 6 decimals, enabling euro-denominated payments, FX workflows, and multi-currency applications without relying on third-party bridges. For the EURC contract address, see Contract addresses.

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USYC

USYC is a yield-bearing token representing shares of a tokenized money market fund — a regulated investment vehicle that holds short-duration U.S. Treasury securities and distributes yield to token holders. It provides onchain access to regulated, low-risk yield for institutional participants. USYC is only accessible to institutions outside the United States, subject to eligibility restrictions and a $100,000 USD minimum investment. For token addresses and testnet faucet instructions, see Contract addresses.

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Design rationale

Arc’s stablecoin-native model is a deliberate architectural choice, not a compatibility layer added after launch. Three principles guided the design.

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No volatile native token

Traditional blockchains require users to hold a volatile native token to pay fees. This creates friction for financial applications: users must acquire the token, manage price exposure, and convert between the fee token and the assets they actually want to use. Arc eliminates this by making USDC the native token from day one.

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Single gas denomination at launch

Arc launches with USDC as the sole gas token rather than supporting multi-token gas payments from the start. A single denomination simplifies the fee market, avoids oracle dependencies for gas price conversion, and keeps the protocol’s economic model straightforward. Multi-stablecoin gas payment through paymasters (smart contracts that sponsor or redirect gas fees on behalf of a user) is a planned future capability.

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Stablecoins as first-class primitives

USDC, EURC, and USYC are not tokens added after launch. They are integrated at the protocol level, which means applications can compose across stable assets with consistent interfaces and without external dependencies. This positions Arc as infrastructure specifically designed for payments, lending, FX, and treasury management.