A coalition comprising over 140 companies, including prominent names such as Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, has formally announced the formation of Open Standard and the introduction of Open USD (OUSD), a new dollar-pegged stablecoin designed to reshape the existing dynamics of the $300 billion stablecoin market.
Zach Abrams, the co-founder of Bridge—the stablecoin infrastructure firm acquired by Stripe in 2024—leads this initiative.
In a statement, Abrams articulated that while existing stablecoins possess significant advantages, the market requires solutions that are open, cost-effective, capable of high throughput, widely accessible, and aligned with the interests of businesses.
This announcement has reportedly impacted Circle’s market performance, with shares declining by as much as 15% on Tuesday, indicating a direct competition with the business model of USDC, which Circle issues.
The fundamental offering of Open USD is clear: it imposes no minting or redemption fees, no volume restrictions, and most of the interest generated from the stablecoin’s reserves will be allocated to the partner companies utilizing it, less a management fee retained by Open Standard.
The income derived from reserves has traditionally contributed to the profitability of issuers such as Circle and Tether, as they invest stablecoin backings in short-term U.S. Treasuries while retaining the yields. Currently, Circle’s USDC has a market capitalization of approximately $73 billion, while Tether’s USDT stands at around $145 billion. In contrast, Open USD aims to redistribute that yield among its distribution network.
Governance of Open USD adheres to a similar principle. Instead of a singular issuer wielding control, management will be executed by an independent organization, with decision-making power distributed among partner companies.
Who Is Backing Open USD
The collaborative partner list encompasses a wide array of financial sectors. Major payment networks are represented by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. Banking institutions include BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, and U.S. Bank. On the technological front, prominent firms such as Google, Shopify, and IBM are involved. Additionally, notable cryptocurrency firms, including Coinbase, Ripple, MetaMask, Aave, Bybit, OKX, Galaxy, Fireblocks, and Anchorage Digital, are part of this initiative.
Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, communicated on X that the collaboration encompasses Visa alongside Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, American Express, BlackRock, U.S. Bank, BBVA, Standard Chartered, and numerous other initial partners, all with the objective of facilitating the issuance of Open USD.
The launch of Open USD is anticipated later in 2026 on platforms such as Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon. Tempo CEO Matt Huang confirmed that OUSD will be intrinsically issued on its network from the outset, with provisions for payments, liquidity, exchanges, and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Open Standard is not the first coalition pursuing this model. Paxos leads the Global Dollar Network (USDG)—backed by Robinhood, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital—operating under the same principle of shared reserve income to foster adoption.
In Europe, 37 banks and payment providers have united to form Qivalis, a euro-denominated stablecoin, in response to growing concerns regarding U.S. dollar supremacy in the digital asset landscape.
The timing of this initiative appears to be strategic, as stablecoins have extended their utility beyond crypto trading to encompass cross-border payments, merchant settlements, and corporate treasury functionalities.
According to projections by Citi, the stablecoin market could potentially reach $4 trillion by the year 2030.
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