Arc is an EVM-compatible blockchain, so standard Ethereum tooling works out of the box. However, several architectural differences affect how infrastructure providers index data, stream blocks, and expose balance APIs.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.arc.io/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Key differences from Ethereum
| Area | Ethereum behavior | Arc behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Native token | eth_getBalance returns ETH (18 decimals) | eth_getBalance returns USDC (18 decimals) |
| Finality | Probabilistic—requires 12+ minutes and multiple confirmations | Deterministic—once a block is committed, it is permanent |
| Reorgs | Possible—indexers must handle chain reorganizations and uncle blocks | Never—no reorganizations occur |
| Block time | ~12 seconds | Sub-second—multiple blocks may share the same block.timestamp |
PREVRANDAO | Randomness beacon value | Always returns 0 |
| Blob transactions | Supported (EIP-4844) | Not supported |
| Consensus | Proof-of-stake (Casper) | Malachite BFT with permissioned PoA validators |
Chain metadata
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Chain ID | 5042002 |
| RPC (HTTPS) | https://rpc.testnet.arc.network |
| WebSocket | wss://rpc.testnet.arc.network |
| Block explorer | testnet.arcscan.app |
| CCTP domain | 26 |
| EVM target | Prague hard fork |
| USDC ERC-20 address | 0x3600000000000000000000000000000000000000 |
Integration considerations
Balance APIs
eth_getBalance returns the account’s native balance in USDC at 18-decimal
precision. If your platform displays balances, label the value as USDC rather
than ETH. The same underlying balance is also accessible through the ERC-20
interface at 6-decimal precision.
No-reorg indexing
Arc’s deterministic finality means you never need to handle chain reorganizations or uncle blocks. Every block your indexer receives is permanent. You can treat a single block confirmation as final and skip reorg-recovery logic entirely.Sub-second block streaming
Blocks arrive faster than once per second. Your ingestion pipeline must handle high-throughput streaming without assuming a minimum interval between blocks. Multiple consecutive blocks may share the sameblock.timestamp because
sub-second blocks can fall in the same wall-clock second.
Randomness
PREVRANDAO always returns 0. If your tooling surfaces this opcode value,
note that it does not provide randomness on Arc.
Self-hosted access
For independent verification or direct RPC access without third-party providers, you can run your own Arc node. The execution client (arc-node-execution) is
Reth-based, and the consensus client (arc-node-consensus) is Malachite-based.
Running a node
Architecture overview and requirements for operating an Arc node.
Run an Arc node
Step-by-step guide to install, configure, and start both clients.
Sub-pages
Index events
Unified transfer events, no-reorg indexing, and block streaming guidance for
data indexers.
Compliance
Blocklist enforcement, Memo contract monitoring, and compliance tool
integrations.