Circle maps out 2026 strategy to grow USDC usage

Circle Internet Group says it will devote 2026 to strengthening its underlying infrastructure to enable more businesses and institutions to adopt stablecoins.

Nikhil Chandhok, the firm’s chief product and technology officer, noted in a blog post that the company is trying to bring Arc, its institutional-focused layer-1 blockchain, out of testnet and into the real world. He noted the company will also focus heavily on upgrading stablecoin infrastructure so that companies can adopt stablecoin-based payments and settlements without building their own systems from scratch.

The company also said it will deepen the utility of USDC, EURC, USYC, and partner tokens while extending their presence to new chains.

Arc will serve as Circle’s coordination layer

Circle’s decision follows strong growth in stablecoins, now worth more than $300 billion, along with clearer U.S. regulatory frameworks. Stablecoins became a major focus of the crypto industry in 2025, driven by new U.S. rules and growing interest from banks and institutions.

The plan, Circle says, is to scale applications, including its payments network, so organizations can handle stablecoin payments without managing the technology themselves. Chandhok even noted that Circle will invest in making USDC more seamless across different blockchains, while improving the user and developer experience.

He further stated, “In addition, we will continue to expand our partner and developer ecosystem to build utility and extend global scale and reach to bring the benefits of stablecoin and internet-scale finance to more markets and use cases.”

In the first 90 days of operation, the Arc testnet generated almost 1.5 million wallets that processed more than 150 million transactions, typically settling the transactions in about half a second.

Circle hopes to have Circle Payments Network and StableFX run on Arc

Services like Circle Payments Network and StableFX will in the future operate on Arc, drawing on its institutional-grade architecture to more easily coordinate payments and capital flows, Circle said. Circle also seeks to have Arc lower onchain finance’s barriers to entry by handling behind-the-scenes complexity for regulated organizations.

The platform also comes with developer and interoperability tools to help teams build leading product solutions. For instance, the company’s CCTP has also supported cross-chain USDC, with the stablecoin running across 30 networks by December 2025 and CCTP connecting 19 of them, processing $126 billion in total. Speaking on CCTP, the company even stated in its release that it’s “Going forward, our priority is to make it an even more systemic interoperability layer for USDC so that businesses and users have access to USDC liquidity that moves safely and predictably across blockchains where it’s needed.” 

The firm also recently launched Circle Gateway for chain-agnostic USDC balances, enabling instant cross-chain liquidity for apps without increasing complexity. Currently, it’s infusing Gateway with Arc, CCTP, and x402, preparing the base for USDC-powered micropayments, machine-to-machine transactions, and agentic payment flows across multiple chains.

The firm wrote, “Together with Arc, these interoperability and developer tools will make the idea of an Economic OS more than just a concept, but rather a robust framework that combines a network, interoperability primitives, and tightly integrated tools for developers to build with.”

DeFiLlama data indicates that USDC still holds the No. 2 spot among dollar-backed stablecoins, with a market cap above $70 billion. Meanwhile, USDT remains the largest stablecoin, accounting for more than $186 billion of the $306 billion total market cap.

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