[Click e-Stock] "Hecto Financial, Only Korean Partner in Circle's 'Arc' Blockchain Testnet"

On October 30, KB Securities analyzed that Hecto Financial’s stablecoin business has entered full swing, as it became the only domestic fintech company to participate in the public testnet of ‘Arc,’ a blockchain network led by global stablecoin leader Circle.

On October 28 (local time), Circle announced the launch of the USDC-based Layer 1 blockchain mainnet ‘Arc’ public testnet and revealed the participation of more than 100 companies worldwide.

Lim Sang-guk, a researcher at KB Securities, stated, “The participating companies process assets and payments worth hundreds of trillions of dollars for billions of users worldwide, forming the core infrastructure of the global economy. With this participation, Hecto Financial has proactively secured its capabilities for stablecoin payments and settlements within the global payments, technology, and fintech ecosystem.”

This testnet is a trial version of the blockchain network to verify stability and technological completeness before the mainnet launch. Hecto Financial was selected as the only domestic fintech company to participate, and its ongoing expansion in cross-border payments and settlements has been recognized as a global reference.

‘Arc’ is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible chain launched by Circle, and it is expected to serve as an ‘enterprise blockchain’ for stablecoin payments, foreign exchange (FX), and capital markets. USDC is used as the native gas token, featuring sub-second transaction speeds and a stablecoin FX engine. Additionally, transaction fees (gas fees) are unified in USDC, enhancing fee transparency and simplifying user procedures.

Researcher Lim evaluated, “Arc is a next-generation blockchain that addresses the scalability, fee, and transaction speed limitations of existing blockchains, while integrating functions required for stablecoin finance. The release of this testnet marks the official starting point of the global stablecoin infrastructure that Circle previewed in August.”

By participating in the Arc testnet as a global payment partner, Hecto Financial is expected to gain a first-mover advantage over domestic and international financial institutions in establishing real-world use cases for stablecoin payments.

Meanwhile, its affiliate Hecto Innovation is also participating in the testnet as a digital wallet partner. Hecto Innovation plans to integrate the ‘WalletOne’ service, acquired in September, with Arc Network’s Web3 wallet technology to build a B2B and B2C-based global payment and wallet service ecosystem.

He added, “Since Arc encompasses stablecoin payments, FX liquidity, and tokenized asset issuance, there will be significant synergy with Hecto Group’s stablecoin and wallet businesses.”