Major Companies Launch New Stablecoin to Reshape Digital Payments
A consortium of over 140 companies, including prominent names like Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and BlackRock, has joined forces to introduce a new stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD). The initiative aims to establish a shared digital payments infrastructure that is not controlled by any single entity.
The announcement appears to have significantly impacted the stock of Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. Circle’s shares reportedly fell nearly 16% on the day, reaching a price of $63.99, according to Yahoo Finance. This decline contributes to a 39% drop in the company’s stock over the past month. While Coinbase is a significant partner of Circle, it has also lent its support to the new Open USD initiative.
Unveiled on Tuesday by a newly formed independent operator named Open Standard, the OUSD stablecoin is designed to tackle persistent issues within the growing stablecoin industry. These include high fees associated with minting and redeeming tokens at scale, issuers retaining interest earned on reserves, and a lack of input from the businesses that are the primary users of these digital currencies.
Open Standard, led by founding CEO Zach Abrams, who previously founded the stablecoin company Bridge (acquired by Stripe), stated that businesses will be able to mint and redeem Open USD without charge and with no volume limitations. Instead of the issuer alone, partner companies will share in the earnings from reserves, after a management fee.
Governance of Open USD will be managed by a board composed of representatives from its partner companies, rather than a single corporate entity. Organizers believe this structure is crucial for achieving widespread adoption.
“Existing stablecoins offer significant advantages, but for businesses to utilize them at scale, they require something that is open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned with their interests,” Abrams said in a statement.
The list of backers includes payments giants such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express; financial institutions like BlackRock, BNY, and Standard Chartered; technology firms including Google and Shopify; and cryptocurrency players like Coinbase and Ripple.
Executives involved in the project described the effort as an attempt to build neutral infrastructure, drawing parallels to the early development of the internet. Samara Cohen of BlackRock characterized it as “a constructive step toward giving businesses more choice,” while BNY projected that the broader stablecoin market could expand to $1.5 trillion by 2030.
Open USD is anticipated to launch later this year.
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