Circle-backed blockchain Arc recorded $410.8 million in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume on the first day of its public mainnet, with roughly 82% generated by meme-coin launchpads. On-chain data showed that Arc processed 7.76 million transactions on September 16, as speculative token trading quickly became the network's main source of activity while institutional financial applications remained in the early stages of deployment.
Arc Records $410.8 Million in First-Day DEX Volume
Arc is an open Layer 1 blockchain developed by Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. Circle has positioned the network as infrastructure for financial markets, real-time movement of funds and what it calls "agentic economic activity," with the stated ambition of creating an "economic operating system" for the internet.
Its initial validator group includes BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Before the public mainnet opened, more than 100 institutions and ecosystem developers had deployed on or tested the Arc private mainnet.
Among asset managers, Bitwise, BlackRock and Janus Henderson are moving tokenized funds to the network. Payment companies Visa and MoneyGram plan to use Arc for stablecoin settlement. Trading platforms have also joined the ecosystem, including Uniswap, Robinhood and Pump.fun, which are expanding spot, perpetual and cross-chain markets.
Jeremy Allaire, Circle's co-founder, chairman and chief executive, said Arc is designed to provide an open, neutral and continuously operating economic system for the internet. He said the network is intended to support an environment in which both people and machines can transact, with participation from major financial institutions.
The actual composition of Arc's first-day activity, however, differed sharply from its institutional financial positioning. Data compiled by on-chain analyst Adam showed that meme-coin launchpads attracted most of the network's activity on launch day.
Arguspad Generates $202.35 Million
Meme-coin launchpads generated $336.26 million in DEX volume on Arc's first day, accounting for about 82% of the network's total, according to Dune data. Arguspad alone processed $202.35 million, nearly half of Arc's overall first-day volume.
Minara.fun ranked second with $36.41 million, while Tollylabs recorded $19.65 million. Token creation was similarly concentrated on Arguspad. The platform minted 83,751 tokens within 24 hours, representing more than 86% of the 97,025 tokens created across the Arc network that day.
Arc processed 7.76 million transactions on September 16, in addition to the token issuance activity. Much of that count was linked to the rapid creation, trading and liquidity rotation of meme coins. Whether those transactions translate into sustained network usage will depend on activity in the days and weeks that follow.
Arc's Debut Compared With Robinhood Chain
Some traders had compared Arc with Robinhood Chain before its launch. When Robinhood Chain opened on July 1, it recorded $14.74 million in first-day volume. On that basis, Arc's debut volume was roughly 28 times higher.
First-day volume alone does not establish that a network has developed stable demand. Activity on Robinhood Chain cooled at one point in August before reaching a daily record of $3.7 billion in September. The pattern shows how usage on a new chain can change after the initial launch period fades.
For Arc, the key issue over the coming weeks will be whether its activity mix changes. Deployments by BlackRock, Visa, MoneyGram and other institutional and payment participants could create recurring settlement demand, while launchpads such as Arguspad may continue to drive meme-coin issuance and trading. The first-day data currently show that Arc's network activity was led primarily by the meme-coin market, with its institutional finance and stablecoin-settlement use cases still at an early stage.