Circle, issuer of USDC, and payments giant Stripe are developing custom blockchains—Arc and Tempo respectively—to control settlement networks for digital payments, joining a wave of companies like Plasma, Stable, Dinari, Securitize, and Ondo Finance building dedicated chains for stablecoins and tokenized assets. Circle's Arc, announced as an open Layer-1 blockchain "purpose-built to drive financial innovation powered by stablecoins," and Stripe’s Tempo (developed with Paradigm) aim to reduce costs, embed compliance features like KYC checks at the protocol level, and avoid dependence on external networks like Ethereum or Solana.
Martin Burgherr of Sygnum Bank emphasized that proprietary chains offer strategic control over fee markets, governance, and technical bottlenecks, while Ava Labs' Morgan Krupetsky noted they enable firms to treat blockchains as "middle and back office" infrastructure. Guillaume Poncin from Alchemy highlighted revenue potential, stating owning settlement layers could "dwarf traditional payment processing margins." Currently, most stablecoins (including $160B USDT) and tokenized assets rely on public chains like Ethereum, Solana, or Tron.
Coinbase analysts warn the trend threatens Solana most directly, as Arc and Tempo target its high-throughput, low-fee payments niche. Ethereum faces less immediate disruption due to its entrenched institutional user base and reputation as blockchain's "Fort Knox," though Burgherr cautioned new chains will need years to shift liquidity. Most new networks maintain Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility for interoperability.
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