Circle’s Corporate Chain Gamble

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 786 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Circle has announced Arc, its own EVM-compatible layer 1 blockchain powered by USDC, joining Stripe, Tether, and Robinhood in the corporate app chain trend. Critics warn it could fragment crypto and undermine decentralization, while supporters see potential for commercial finance use cases. Plus, a mixed CPI report keeps September rate cut hopes alive despite stubborn inflation, as political battles heat up over Fed appointments and proposed changes to U.S. jobs data reporting. Brought to you by: Grayscale offers more than 20 different crypto investment products. Explore the full suite at grayscale.com. Invest in your share of the future. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Grayscale.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.grayscale.com//?utm_source=blockworks&utm_medium=paid-other&utm_campaign=brand&utm_id=&utm_term=&utm_content=audio-thebreakdown)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.3	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:18.3	What's going on, guys? It is Wednesday, August 13th, and today we are talking a little corporate app chain, a little CPI.
0:26.0	But before we get to that, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into the conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord.
0:34.7	You can find a link in the show notes or go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod.
0:38.3	All right, friends, something that we talked about yesterday, we are continuing today.
0:44.3	Circle is joining the trend and launching their own layer one blockchain. Now, the context for
0:49.1	the news yesterday was that Stripe was creating their own L1, and Tether also announced an L1 earlier
0:53.9	this year. And added to that, Robin Hood is aiming to launch their tokenized stock was creating their own L1, and Tether also announced an L1 earlier this year.
0:54.8	And added to that, Robin Hood is aiming to launch their tokenized stock product on their own
0:58.4	L2. It seems that every crypto service feels the need to own their infrastructure rather than use
1:03.4	existing blockchains, but is the return of corporate chains really a good idea?
1:08.0	Circle's blockchain called ARC will be an EVM-compatible blockchain using
1:11.5	USDC as the gas token. They expect the public test net to go live this fall. Features include
1:16.9	sub-second block times, privacy options, and interoperability with other partner blockchains.
1:21.4	They're promoting it as a, quote, full-stack platform for the internet financial system.
1:25.4	Circle claims this will be an additional rail integrated into
1:28.2	their platform and services with existing rails remaining in place. As a blockchain, it's
1:32.4	entirely unremarkable. But as a business decision, this was one of the most controversial moves
1:36.6	that Circle has made. The timeline was in an uproar and very little of the commentary was positive.
1:42.3	For consensus founder Joe Lubin, this is all very familiar.
1:45.4	He wrote,
	...

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