Overview

• Circle president Heath Tarbert told the Financial Times the company is studying refund options for disputed or fraudulent USDC transfers without giving up settlement finality.
• The approach under consideration centers on an off-chain counter-payment process that would enable reversals similar to credit card refunds rather than on-chain rollbacks.
• Circle is piloting Arc as an institutional settlement network that uses USDC for fees and integrates custody through Fireblocks, with a testnet expected this year and a full launch targeted for 2025.
• The initiative is designed to make stablecoin settlement acceptable to banks and asset managers that want fraud protection and dispute mechanisms before adopting crypto rails.
• The exploration has renewed arguments over centralization versus immutability, highlighted by Sui’s freeze and subsequent return of funds after the Cetus exploit earlier this year.