What this provesAI compute can be metered, priced, and settled at token granularity — making per-action billing economically viable for the first time.
De-identifiedNo PHIAdmin Only
Budget Spent$0.000000
Remaining$0.5000
AI EventsNot started
Arc TxNot started
Avg / EventNot started
ProofREADY
READY
SessionNot started
Budget
$0.0000 / $0.50
Arc Settlement Proof · Hackathon Criteria
AI Events
—
Not started yet
Signed Auths
—
Not started yet
Arc Tx
—
Not started yet
Avg / Event
—
Not started yet
50+ Threshold
—
requirement
Circle + Arc Infrastructureload-bearing components
Circle DCW
Session Wallet
Developer-Controlled Wallet provisioned on ARC-TESTNET per session. No user custody required.
Nanopayments
Sub-Cent Settlement
Circle Nanopayments API authorizes each USDC micro-event. One authorization per AI billing chunk.
Circle Gateway
x402 Verification
Gateway domain 26 on Arc testnet. Verifies x402 payment headers at gateway-api-testnet.circle.com.
Arc Testnet
Chain Settlement
USDC as native gas. Chain ID 5042002. USDC predeploy 0x36000…. Settlement at $0.006/tx.
Sub-cent settlement preserves real-time pricing. Every token chunk settles individually.
Network
Settlement cost
AI cost
Total / action
Viable
Ethereum Mainnet (30 gwei)
~$2.85
~$0.0003
~$2.85
✗
Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 min)
$0.30 min
~$0.0003
~$0.30+
✗
Base L2 (typical)
~$0.02
~$0.0003
~$0.020
✗
Arc Testnet (USDC gas)
$0.006 USDC
~$0.0003
~$0.0063
✓
Arc is the first rail in this demo where settlement stays below the value of the individual AI action.ETH gas at 30 gwei, 65k gas per ERC-20 transfer. Numbers from live Arc testnet runs.
Circle Infrastructure
Circle Developer-Controlled Wallets provision per-session spending accounts on ARC-TESTNET. Circle Nanopayments handles sub-cent settlement. Circle Gateway domain 26 verifies x402 payments on Arc.