Circle’s Kris Gower makes the case for Arc and USDC in securities lending

The Circle executive says Arc and USDC could reduce settlement failures and costs in one of finance's least glamorous plumbing problems Securities lending rarely makes headlines. It mostly comes up when something in the back office breaks. Circle executive Kris Gower wants to change that. He argues that the company’s Arc blockchain and its USDC stablecoin could reduce settlement failures and costs in securities lending, a corner of finance that still runs on legacy rails and banking-hour cutoffs. Gower made the case on the BitGo podcast, which aired around November 4-5, 2026. His pitch was simple: settle trades in under a second, around the clock, and fewer of them will fail. What Gower is pitching In securities lending, one institution lends stocks or bonds to another. The borrower posts collateral, often cash or other securities, to cover the loan. Collateral and securities have to change hands in a coordinated way. When one leg arrives late or not at all, the trade fails. Capital also tends to sit idle while everyone waits for the system to catch up. Gower’s conversation centered on how Arc and USDC target those frictions. Circle positions Arc as a venue where institutions can p...