On most chains an agent needs a second, volatile token just to pay fees. Arc removes that. Here is why it matters for machine payments.
The hidden tax of gas tokens
To send a dollar on a normal chain, an agent also needs a little of a second token for gas. It has to hold that token, price it, and refill it before it runs out.
That is one more moving part that can break, at exactly the moment a payment needs to go through.
Arc pays fees in USDC
Arc is an EVM chain where gas is paid in USDC, the same dollar the agent is already moving. No second token, no surprise volatility, no refill dance.
For software that just wants to pay for a thing, this is the difference between simple and fragile.
Sub-second and deterministic
Blocks settle in well under a second, with deterministic finality. The payment either happened or it did not, and the agent knows right away.
For an agent making thousands of small calls, that certainty is the difference between fluid and stuck.
What we use it for
Arc is our primary rail. It carries the unified balance through Circle App Kit and nanopayments down to a millionth of a dollar.
Anything large still pauses for a human. Speed never means losing the tower.