Is there an ARC token?
Not officially. Circle minted 10 billion ARC in September 2026 and says, in its own words, “No ARC token has been launched.” Yet many other contracts on Arc already call themselves ARC.
Free and read-only: nothing to connect, nothing to sign.
The one Circle minted
0xA12Cd81d0f9988E3d60c4B6a0D52D368Ef3c788d
Named Arc, symbol ARC, 6 decimals and exactly 10,000,000,000 in supply, read straight from the chain. Arc’s official explorer lists it as Arc (ARC) with the website www.arc.io. It exists, and Circle has not launched it: anyone offering it to you is not Circle. A few pools list it, because anyone can open a pool for any token. Arc’s own contract list names no ARC token at all.
What Circle has said
“No ARC token has been launched. Any discussion is exploratory only — no decision has been made on development, deployment, or utility.”
— Arc blog, 16 September 2026
“This initial mint is not a commitment to publicly launch ARC.”
— Circle press release, 16 September 2026
Did anyone buy ARC?
Yes, privately. Circle sold 807.5 million ARC at $0.30 each to institutions, among them a16z crypto, BlackRock and Apollo: 740 million in May 2026 and 67.5 million in July 2026 (SEC filings: May, July). Those buyers may not sell or transfer their ARC until at least one year after Arc moves to Proof of Stake, and they get their money back if that move has not happened by 8 May 2028. Even the institutions that paid cannot sell you ARC today.
Keep your money safe
- On Arc a name is a label anyone can copy. Only the contract address is an identity.
- A site that asks you to connect a wallet to “claim ARC” is not Circle.
- Network fees on Arc are paid in USDC, not in ARC.
What this count does not say
- It counts tokens that have a Uniswap v4 pool on Arc. A contract that never had a pool is not counted.
- Sharing a name is not proof of a scam. Some are jokes or tests. It only means the name tells you nothing.
- Tokens that could not report a name are not counted under any name.
For machines
GET /api/arc/impostor/{symbol or address} — free in a browser; programs pay $1 per call. Every reused symbol at once: GET /api/x402/arc-impostors ($1).