Arc’s first week on mainnet has exposed a divide between its institutional payments ambitions and the retail speculation that initially drove on-chain activity. Meme-token launchpads generated little revenue after an early burst of decentralized exchange trading, while stablecoins accounted for nearly all of the network’s reported stablecoin value, according to DeFiLlama data.
Decentralized exchange volume on Arc reached about $131 million on Sept. 17, the day after the network launched, before falling to roughly $41 million by Sept. 20. The nearly 70% decline suggests the initial trading rush was short-lived and concentrated in speculative tokens rather than sustained application use.
Protocol revenue from the meme-token launchpads that drew early activity was equally modest. DeFiLlama showed Solon producing $503 in protocol revenue over 24 hours, the highest figure among the listed platforms. ARK Launch generated $180 and Tolly recorded $171 during the same period.
Several other platforms were far smaller. Wonk Fun reported $69.60 in daily protocol revenue and AKA generated $66.87, while UBI.fun, Sashimi.fun and CircleWarp each produced less than $1. Other launchpads listed on the data platform showed no revenue for the period.
Across the network, DeFiLlama reported approximately $1,191 in net application revenue over 24 hours. The figures offer an early indication that the meme-token activity which created Arc’s first trading spike has not yet developed into a meaningful source of fees for applications or the network’s emerging developer ecosystem.
Stablecoins dominate Arc’s on-chain capital
Arc held about $342 million in total value locked and had a stablecoin market capitalization of roughly $627 million, according to DeFiLlama. Stablecoins represented almost all of that supply, placing dollar-denominated settlement assets rather than volatile tokens at the center of the chain’s early balance sheet.
That profile fits the network’s stated purpose. Circle positioned Arc as a payments-focused blockchain designed for internet-native finance, including use cases involving stablecoins, programmable contracts and automated systems. On the mainnet launch day, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said the project was intended to help build an open economic layer for the internet where money, contracts and machines operate on distributed computing infrastructure.
On Sept. 19, Arc announced hosted access for developers building agent payments with x402, a protocol aimed at enabling automated payments between internet services and software agents. Such tools target a different category of demand than meme-token trading: recurring payments, machine-to-machine transactions and stablecoin settlement.
Whether that demand appears on-chain will be more useful than meme-launchpad revenue as a measure of Arc’s progress. Capital entering lending and financial applications, as well as stablecoin transfers through the network’s bridge, would provide clearer evidence of usage aligned with Circle’s payments strategy.
Morpho Blue and Aave have integrated with the Arc ecosystem, creating channels for on-chain borrowing, lending and liquidity deployment. Deposit growth on those applications could show whether users are placing capital into financial products rather than only cycling through newly issued tokens.
Builder incentives remain small in the near term
Arc has begun offering incentives intended to attract developers, though the first announced program was limited in size. On Sept. 17, the project said it would grant 20 awards of 500 USDC each to eligible early builders that launched runnable Mini Apps on mainnet, for a combined pool of 10,000 USDC.
The announcement also referred to a separate builder incentive framework that could provide up to $1 million. The gap between the immediate 10,000 USDC program and the larger potential framework leaves developers with a clearer long-term signal than short-term funding certainty.
Consumer-facing applications may need more than grants to retain activity after the initial launch period. Arc’s early traffic showed that speculative tokens can bring users and volume quickly, but the revenue figures indicate that such traffic can fade before it produces a durable application economy.
The network also faced a social-media controversy in its opening week after a widely circulated video-call screenshot was used to make unfounded claims about the project’s core team. The image was later linked to ecosystem developers, including the founder of Xylonet, rather than Arc’s core staff. The episode coincided with pressure on some Arc meme-token prices, illustrating how thinly traded early ecosystems can be affected by online narratives.
Token supply and validator roster underline Circle’s longer-term plan
Circle said on Sept. 16 that it completed a genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens. The company described the event as a technical milestone and said it did not represent a commitment to hold a public token sale.
According to Arc’s token whitepaper, 60% of ARC’s supply is assigned to the ecosystem, including token sales, developer grants and network growth. Circle is allocated 25% for protocol development, staking and governance, while 15% is reserved for long-term strategic flexibility and economic stability.
Bubblemaps reported that ARC tokens were distributed from a burn address to 11 addresses, allowing the allocations to be monitored on-chain. Circle has also said it is exploring a transition from proof-of-authority, where approved entities validate the network, to proof-of-stake in 2027.
Arc launched with 11 founding validators, including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. BlackRock has said it plans to deploy its tokenized BUIDL fund on Arc to support on-chain subscriptions and redemptions.
Those connections place Arc’s early development closer to tokenized funds, payment infrastructure and regulated financial institutions than to the meme-token market that dominated its opening days. The immediate test is whether stablecoin balances, lending deposits and institutional financial applications grow after speculative trading recedes.
For deeper context on blockchain rails and DeFi payments, explore our guide on what is DeFi and how does it work.
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