A coalition of more than 140 companies, spanning global banks, payment networks, tech firms, and crypto platforms, today unveiled a new stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD), positioning it as a collectively governed alternative to the dollar-pegged tokens that currently dominate the crypto market.
The venture is run by a newly formed independent company called Open Standard, whose board is composed of its member businesses rather than a single corporate owner, with the structure designed to ensure decisions reflect the interests of the broader network. Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge—the stablecoin infrastructure company acquired by Stripe in 2024—will serve as Open Standard’s founding CEO.
Founding partners include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, BlackRock, Coinbase, Google, BNY Mellon, Standard Chartered, Shopify, DoorDash, Klarna, and Aave, among others. OUSD is expected to go live later in 2026 across multiple blockchains, including Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon.
The launch comes almost a year after U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing the first federal framework for stablecoin issuance in the United States. Open Standard says OUSD is designed to comply with those rules.
Introducing Open USD: a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.https://t.co/jqgDRs6mKf
— Open Standard (@openstandard) June 30, 2026
How it works
Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to the value of a traditional currency—in this case, the U.S. dollar. They are backed by reserves of cash and short-term government bonds, and the interest earned on those reserves is typically the main source of revenue for whoever issues the coin. The complaint from businesses using existing stablecoins has been that they bear the costs and distribution work while the issuing company pockets most of that yield.
Open USD claims to flip that model. According to today’s announcement, Businesses will be able to mint and redeem Open USD at no cost and with no artificial limits on volume, while partners collect all earnings from the coin’s reserves, minus a small management fee to cover operational costs.
“Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests,” Zach Abrams said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to bring together over 140 businesses to launch Open USD. It’s a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.”
Stripe President of Technology and Business Will Gaybrick said Open USD is intended to become the default stablecoin for businesses using Stripe. Coinbase has confirmed OUSD is coming to its Base network and other chains later this year.
Competitive pressure on Circle
Notably absent from the new consortium are Tether and Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL)—issuers of USDT and USDC, the two largest stablecoins by market cap— as well as PayPal, whose PYUSD launched in 2023 and remains a distant third. None of the three existing market leaders were invited in, or chose to join.
The announcement landed hard on Circle as the company’s shares plunged 17.55% on Tuesday, closing at $62.63 and wiping out roughly $4.5 billion in market value in a single session. The stock has now fallen dramatically from its post-IPO peak of $240 in June last year, while trading well below the current Wall Street analyst consensus price target of approximately $145.80.
Reasons for caution
The ambition of the project, however, is drawing comparisons to Libra, the Facebook-led stablecoin consortium that collapsed under regulatory pressure in 2022. Open Standard faces a different environment today, but the governance challenges are real. Coordinating governance when parties need to collaborate first and then compete fiercely is not easy. Many of the 140 founding partners are direct rivals to one another in their core businesses.
Reserve composition, audit transparency, redemption guarantees under stress, and the actual legal structure of Open Standard will all matter enormously. A stablecoin backed by 140 logos is still only as good as the dollars and governance behind it.
The next milestones for Open USD center on when the token actually goes live and what the initial reserve composition looks like, which partners adopt OUSD as their default settlement token, and how regulators in the U.S., UK, and EU classify a consortium issuer under existing payment stablecoin frameworks.
Open Standard has not announced a specific launch date beyond “later in 2026.”