Arc Does $410 Million in DEX Volume on Day One. Memecoin Launchpads Drove 82% of It

Circle’s Arc mainnet launched yesterday, and we previously highlighted how this EVM-compatible Layer 1 is designed as a platform for financial markets, real-time value transfers, and autonomous AI agents. Features like founding validators, tokenized collateral from BlackRock and Securitize, StableFX, the Circle Payments Network, and USDC gas fees tailored for treasurers seeking predictable expenses all suggest an institutional-grade network. Yet, activity on the chain’s inaugural day bore little resemblance to that vision.

Figures compiled by onchain analyst adam_tehc reveal that Arc recorded $410.8 million in decentralized exchange (DEX) volume alongside 7,763,670 transactions during its first day on the mainnet. Memecoin launchpads were responsible for $336.3 million of that trading activity, equating to roughly 82%.

One Launchpad Took Half the Chain

A solitary platform, arguspad.io, generated nearly half of the day’s total volume by pulling in $202.35 million. Minara.fun secured second place with $36.41 million, followed by tollylabs.com at $19.65 million and redardex.pro at $13.11 million. In total, 19 different launchpads saw activity, though volumes dropped off steeply after the top five.

Token creation figures on the first day followed a comparable pattern. Traders deployed over 97,000 tokens across these Arc launchpads, with arguspad.io alone accounting for 83,751 of them. Notably, arguspad.io’s single-day token deployment count surpassed pump.fun’s highest-ever recorded day.

Robinhood Chain Opened at $568,000. Arc Opened at $410 Million.

New networks typically require weeks to generate significant activity. For instance, Robinhood Chain—one of the standout blockchains of recent months—posted $568,630 in DEX volume on June 30 during its first day on the mainnet. It took slightly over a week for Robinhood Chain to reach $581.12 million, meaning Arc’s debut was approximately 720 times larger.

Part of this disparity comes down to timing. Arc went live with Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap already integrated, alongside day-one exchange support from platforms like Binance, Kraken, and OKX. Consequently, the launchpads debuted on a chain that already possessed resident liquidity.

Robinhood Chain’s First Weeks Looked Like This Too

Robinhood Chain serves as the closest available comparison, and its trajectory challenges straightforward interpretations. It also launched with an institutional narrative centered on tokenized equities, only to spend its initial weeks trading primarily as a memecoin network. As of September 17, the total real-world asset (RWA) value on Robinhood Chain stands at $168.13 million, distributed across tokenized stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), commodities, and treasuries. Equities constitute the vast majority of that total, with commodity and treasury figures expanding only since early September.

Speculative behavior arrived first on that network, with tangible assets following later. Whether Arc will mirror that sequence remains impossible to determine after just two days.

Non-Launchpad Volume Came In Near $75 Million

Excluding launchpad activity, Arc generated approximately $74.6 million in volume on its first day. This figure aligns with the utilities Circle originally built the chain to support: USDC-denominated settlement, tokenized collateral via USYC and BlackRock’s BUIDL, StableFX currency exchanges, and institutional payment rails. On its own, $74.6 million represents a robust launch for any new Layer 1 network.

At the same time, launchpad volume is the metric most vulnerable to a sharp decline. Memecoin trading on nascent chains frequently spikes for several days or weeks before crashing once the initial wave of users moves on. Should non-launchpad volume continue to rise while memecoin dominance subsides, Arc will have successfully converted initial attention into lasting utility. If both metrics decline together, September 16 will be remembered merely as a fleeting liquidity surge.

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