Circle opened the public mainnet for Arc, its USDC-centered Layer 1 blockchain, on September 16, 2026, with 11 founding validators drawn almost entirely from traditional finance, creating a talking point about the firms involvement with Ripple XRP.
Among them: SBI Group, which has held roughly 9% of Ripple since 2016 and is described as Ripple’s largest external shareholder, according to the primary reporting on the launch. SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao has put the value of that stake near $4Bn.
BOJ INSIDER CALLED IT A YEAR AGO — ARC GOES LIVE AND RIPPLE SITS DOWN WITH CIRCLE THE SAME WEEK!
Last Year @yutokanzakireal posted that Japan and the United States were quietly lining up trusted financial institutions on top of Ripple, Arc, and other rails for payments,… https://t.co/DLPCCRDrA5 pic.twitter.com/WfcPbpdd5S
— Pumpius (@pumpius) September 16, 2026
That places SBI in an odd spot. It is simultaneously the biggest outside owner of a company built around XRP and RLUSD, and a founding operator securing a rival chain built to make USDC the default unit of institutional settlement.
Here is the tension this article works through: does validating Arc signal SBI is drifting away from Ripple, or is this simply what hedging looks like when banks don’t yet know which settlement rail wins?
Ripple XRP News: What Does Arc do Differently to Ripple? It USDC Into the Rail Itself
Arc is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, meaning it runs the same smart-contract environment developers already use on Ethereum, but with one structural difference: USDC is the native gas asset.
Transaction costs are quoted in dollars rather than a volatile network token, removing a pricing headache that has kept some institutions cautious about public blockchains.
Circle describes Arc as purpose-built for stablecoin finance, pairing that dollar-denominated fee structure with an integrated stablecoin foreign-exchange engine, sub-second settlement finality and opt-in privacy controls.
Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said, “Arc is built on a simple premise: that the global financial system deserves a blockchain network it can trust.”
The mainnet and USDC gas mechanism are live today, alongside a day-one application set spanning decentralized finance protocols like Aave and Uniswap, payments firms including Rain and Wirex, and wallets and exchanges such as Kraken, MetaMask and Upbit.
The Evidence for SBI’s Dual-Rail Position
BREAKING
JAPAN ALREADY HOLDS APPROXIMATELY 59 BILLION DOLLARS IN #XRP THROUGH SBI HOLDINGS ALONE
THAT IS OVER 450 TIMES MORE THAN THE COUNTRY 131 MILLION DOLLAR PENSION FUND ALLOCATION CURRENTLY UNDER CONSIDERATION
SBI HOLDINGS HAS EMERGED AS ONE OF THE LARGEST CORPORATE… pic.twitter.com/5ZqmTT59HJ
— 𝗫ℝℙ ℍ𝔼ℝ𝔸𝕃𝔻 (@xrp_herald) June 23, 2026
SBI’s involvement with Ripple goes beyond equity, as SBI Ripple Asia operates Japan’s only live XRP remittance corridor. In March 2026, SBI became Asia’s first regulated RLUSD distributor and a founding validator for a competing stablecoin network.
Similarly, Mastercard has expanded its settlement framework to include RLUSD across eight blockchain networks, including the XRP Ledger.
Both companies are hedging their bets across different settlement networks rather than favoring one. Regulatory developments are crucial; for instance, XRP fell 10% when the US Senate blocked the CLARITY Act, highlighting ongoing uncertainties in Ripple’s home market.
Understanding Ripple’s supply mechanics and scheduled escrow releases is essential to tracking XRP liquidity relative to institutional deals.
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What Is Arc Walking Into?
Arc’s founding validator cohort lacks crypto-native firms and consists mainly of banks and financial institutions like BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Visa, and others.
Over 100 institutional players have been active on Arc’s private mainnet before its launch. BlackRock intends to deploy its BUIDL tokenized fund, and DTCC is collaborating with Circle to tokenize assets by late 2027.
This month, RLUSD’s supply reached $2.442Bn, with Circle’s USYC exceeding $3Bn, and BlackRock’s BUIDL around $2.4Bn, highlighting the significant tokenization market Arc is entering, influenced by emerging stablecoin regulations in various jurisdictions.
UPDATE: ARC
• Arc has just minted 10 billion $ARC tokens on mainnet
• Circle confirmed this is the full initial supply of ARC
• This is currently a technical milestone and does not confirm a public ARC token launch
• Circle is exploring a future move to Proof of Stake… https://t.co/gNiBxkYwsN pic.twitter.com/QChtfTdAm6
— Crypto Sutra (@Cryptosutra_) September 17, 2026
The Verdict: SBI is Hedging, Not Choosing Between Ripple XRP and Arc
Nothing in SBI’s Arc validator role indicates it is abandoning Ripple or XRP. It confirms SBI is participating in both ecosystems at once, which is materially different from switching allegiance.
Whether SBI, Mastercard, or other dual-rail participants eventually consolidate around one network remains unresolved. The variable that will actually decide this isn’t which validators sign up.
It’s whether institutional capital ultimately settles around USDC-based infrastructure, XRP liquidity, or a durable multi-rail arrangement where firms like SBI keep a foot on each side of the table.
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