Arc vs Ethereum vs Solana for stablecoin payments
Arc, Circle's layer-1, uses USDC as its gas token, so a USDC payment pays its fee in USDC; blocks come every 0.51 s (Ethereum 12.0 s, Solana 0.21 s per slot). Ethereum charges fees in ETH and Solana in SOL.
| Measure | Arc | Ethereum | Solana | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee currency | USDC source | ETH source | SOL source | Chain documentation |
| Block time | 0.51 s | 12.0 s | 0.21 s | Measured: Arc and Ethereum over the last 10,000 blocks, Solana per slot from recent performance samples (RPC) |
| Finality | Arc's docs say its Proof-of-Authority validator set delivers deterministic finality, where committed blocks cannot be reversed or reorganized, in under one second. source | ethereum.org says it takes about 15 minutes for an Ethereum block to finalize, with finality currently reached across two epochs. source | Solana RPC offers processed, confirmed and finalized commitment; finalized is a block the cluster recognizes as finalized with maximum lockout, the strongest confirmation state. source | Chain documentation |
| Fee for a USDC transfer (estimate) | $0.0015 iGas price 30.00 gwei × 49,000 gas for an ERC-20 transfer through the USDC contract, paid in USDC. A native USDC transfer uses 21,000 gas ($0.00063). | $0.0055 iGas price 0.05 gwei × 45,000 gas for a USDC transfer to an address that already holds USDC × ETH price $2,330. To a new holder: 65,000 gas ($0.0080). | $0.00051 iBase fee 5,000 lamports per signature × SOL price $101.42; no priority fee, and no token account creation for a recipient without one. | RPC gas prices; prices from DefiLlama |
| USDC in circulation | $966,862,212 | $44,141,538,128 | $6,814,285,708 | DefiLlama stablecoins by chain, 2026-10-26 |
| Apps measured receiving USDC, 24 h | 33 | Not measured by Registrai | Not measured by Registrai | Arc Ecosystem Index (Registrai) |
Measured 26 Oct 2026, 10:14 UTC. Fees are estimates for one USDC transfer, excluding the amount sent: Arc and Ethereum at the RPC's current gas price (base fee plus suggested tip), Solana at the base fee only. Arc in numbers