Stablecoin-native L1s compared for node operators: Arc, Stable, Plasma and Tempo

Arc, Stable, Plasma and Tempo all pitch the same thing to users: a chain where the stablecoin is the point, not an afterthought. For the people who have to run nodes on them they are quite different networks. Everything below comes from each chain’s official documentation as recorded on our chain pages (Stable, Plasma and Tempo checked 22 August 2026; Arc 16 September 2026, the day its mainnet launched). Where the docs do not say, the table says so too.

The comparison

	Arc	Stable	Plasma	Tempo
Chain ID	5042	988	9745	4217
Gas token	USDC (EURC, USYC supported)	USDT0	XPL	Supported USD stablecoins, no native gas token
Client	arc-node: Reth-based execution, Malachite BFT consensus	stabled	Reth execution, PlasmaBFT consensus	tempo
Block time	~0.48 s measured on testnet; no mainnet figure published	~0.7 s	Not published in our sources	Not published in our sources
Finality	Deterministic, sub-second	Not published in our sources	Not published in our sources	Not published in our sources
Validator set	Permissioned, 11 founding institutions	Public validator role	Permissioned, progressive decentralisation planned; validator nodes “coming post-mainnet”	Requires coordination with the Tempo team
Node types you can run	Full, archive	Full, archive, validator	Full (archive confirmed at quote)	Full, archive
Official hardware guidance	64 GB+ RAM, 1 TB+ NVMe, 24 Mbps+, CPU clock over cores	Full: 4 cores, 8 GB (16 suggested), 500 GB NVMe; recommended 8 cores, 16 GB, 1 TB. Archive: 16 cores, 32 GB, 4 TB	RPC node: 4 cores, 16 GB, 250 GB SSD minimum; production 8 cores, 32 GB, 1 TB NVMe; about 350 GB in use	RPC node: 16 cores, 32 GB, 1 TB NVMe, 1 Gbps minimum; recommended 32+ cores, 64 GB, 2 TB, 10 Gbps
Snapshots	Official snapshots only, genesis sync unsupported; testnet 68 GB EL + 16 GB CL compressed; mainnet sizes not published	Archive ~700 GB weekly, pruned under 5 GiB daily	Daily mainnet DB snapshots (S3)	Not documented in our sources
Mainnet	Live 16 September 2026	Live; stabled v1.3.3 as of August 2026	Beta since 25 September 2025, still labelled Beta in August 2026	Live since 16 January 2026 (T0, v1.0.0)
Latest operator note	v0.8.0 mandatory; Zero7/Zero8 on mainnet 10 September 2026	v1.4.0 state-breaking upgrade in testnet release candidate	Consensus 0.15.0 + Reth v1.8.3; upgrades need 15 to 30 minutes of downtime	Required hardforks every two to four weeks with 7 days’ notice; T1 to T10 between 12 February and 21 August 2026
Dedicated full node	from $199/mo	from $199/mo	from $199/mo	from $199/mo

What the table means if you run nodes

Two of the four have no validator to run. Arc’s set is a named institutional cohort and Plasma’s validator nodes are not available yet. If your business is staking, Stable is the only one of the four with a public validator role today, and Tempo needs a conversation with the team first. On the other hand, a permissioned set is exactly why Arc and Plasma can promise deterministic finality without a mempool full of surprises.

Hardware ranges from light to serious. Stable’s minimum full node fits the light end of our bands and Plasma sits just above it. Arc wants 64 GB of memory and Tempo wants 16 cores and a gigabit link for an RPC node, which is why a Tempo quote can land above the $199 starting figure even though every page says “from $199”. The band is the floor; the docs decide the machine.

Upgrade cadence is the hidden cost. Tempo ships a required hardfork every two to four weeks. Plasma warns that node upgrades take 15 to 30 minutes of downtime. Arc just made v0.8.0 mandatory with a dated activation. Stable’s next upgrade is state-breaking. On a dedicated node all of that is our job, applied inside the maintenance window the SLA allows, but it is worth knowing before you build on a chain that a missed upgrade means falling off the network, not a slow sync.

Gas token decides your operating account. Three of the four do not use a volatile native token for fees, which simplifies treasury for anyone sending transactions from the node. Plasma is the exception with XPL.

Where the four pages are

Each chain page carries the full spec sheet, every source link, the pricing cards and the configurator: Arc, Stable, Plasma, Tempo. If one of these launches something we have not recorded yet, tell us and the page is corrected the same day.