# 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](https://www.arc.io/blog/how-gas-works-on-arc) | ETH [source](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/) | SOL [source](https://solana.com/docs/core/fees) | 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](https://docs.arc.io/arc/concepts/consensus-layer) | ethereum.org says it takes about 15 minutes for an Ethereum block to finalize, with finality currently reached across two epochs. [source](https://ethereum.org/en/roadmap/single-slot-finality/) | 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](https://solana.com/docs/rpc) | Chain documentation |
| Fee for a USDC transfer (estimate) | $0.0015 (i: Gas 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 (i: Gas 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 (i: Base 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](https://builder.registrai.cc/arc/)

[Arc in numbers](https://builder.registrai.cc/arc/) · [Arc ecosystem](https://builder.registrai.cc/ecosystem/)

Source: https://builder.registrai.cc/arc/arc-vs-ethereum-vs-solana/ · Registrai, builder.registrai.cc, CC BY 4.0