New Business Stablecoin
Visa and Stripe lead major financial firms in launching dollar-pegged OUSD stablecoin.
Anonymous
Key Points
1
Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, Coinbase and Shopify committed to mint $1 billion worth of OUSD to seed liquidity. At launch, the token had a reported market capitalization of $468 million.
2
Access is rolling out in stages: businesses could initially build through BVNK, Stripe and Visa’s Stablecoin Platform, while Coinbase was set to open access from October 1; Mastercard was named as an integration route but was not listed among those available immediately. Trading was also set to begin on Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap.
3
Zach Abrams is leaving his CEO role at Stripe-owned Bridge to become Open Standard’s full-time CEO. The five-company founding investor group steering the initiative consists of Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa.
4
Open Standard named Chainlink as OUSD’s official data oracle, while Aave Labs proposed adding the token as a supply and borrow asset on Aave V3 and the Aave V4 Core Hub; collateral use would depend on liquidity growth.
A consortium of 200+ financial firms and tech giants—led by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and Shopify—has launched Open USD (OUSD), a stablecoin designed to shake up the $308 billion digital dollar market Crypto Prowl. The token hit a market cap of $468 million at launch and will be backed by $468 million in reserves held across BlackRock, BNY and Lead Bank Ledger Insights.
Unlike rivals Tether and Circle, which keep reserve earnings for themselves, OUSD will share most of those returns with participating partners to encourage adoption Crypto Economy. The token lives on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo blockchains and is available through Stripe, Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap as of October 1 CryptoRank.
Five Rivals Team Up Behind a Neutral Dollar Token
The founding investor group—Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa—committed to mint $1 billion in OUSD to seed liquidity CryptoRank. That initial push put $468 million in circulation on day one. Zach Abrams, former CEO of Stripe-owned Bridge, left that role to become Open Standard's full-time CEO Ledger Insights. Abrams framed the mission bluntly: "Every other stablecoin is building a fund. We're building money."
The consortium is backed by over 200 companies—including 52 banks—and represents an unprecedented alliance of direct payment rivals Crypto Prowl. Bridge, a Stripe subsidiary, acts as the token issuer. Chainlink powers the price oracle. Aave Labs has proposed adding OUSD as a lending asset on Aave V3 and V4 CryptoRank.
A Radically Different Revenue Model
Tether holds 59% of the $308 billion stablecoin market; Circle holds 23%. Both companies pocket nearly all net interest income from their reserve assets—cash and U.S. Treasuries Crypto Economy. OUSD flips that: it returns most reserve earnings to commercial ecosystem partners based on activity and participation.
This yield-sharing design aims to undercut the incumbents' fee structure and reward businesses for adoption. Stripe has already made OUSD its default stablecoin for Stripe Treasury, Stripe Issuing and Global Payouts Ledger Insights. The move removes conversion costs for B2B settlements and cross-border payouts, a major pain point in corporate treasury CryptoRank.
Rollout Plan and Market Access Phases
Businesses could build on OUSD from day one via Stripe, BVNK (Mastercard-owned) and Visa's Stablecoin Platform Crypto Prowl. On October 1, Coinbase opened its own integration path for merchant access. Trading went live the same day on Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap CryptoRank. Mastercard is named as an integration route but access through it was rolling out later.
Reserve composition at launch: $257 million in cash and $211 million in U.S. Treasuries and short-term money market funds Ledger Insights. Open Standard promised monthly public attestations of all reserves. The multi-blockchain presence—Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo—lets businesses pick their preferred settlement layer CryptoRank.
Stripe's Dual Role and the Competitive Wildcard
Stripe owns Bridge, the token issuer. It also sits on the founding investor board and acts as a primary commercial distributor. This dual role raises governance questions: Can Stripe favor its own interests over the consortium's Ledger Insights? Visa and Mastercard pledged non-exclusivity—they will keep supporting USDC alongside OUSD, hedging their bets.
Market analysts warn that moving from a "well-backed initiative" to a true global payment standard faces operational hurdles and multi-jurisdictional regulation Crypto Economy. Yet the threat to incumbents is real: Circle Internet Group's stock faced selling pressure immediately after launch Crypto Economy.
Sentiment
Mostly PositiveNEGATIVENEUTRALPOSITIVE
Publishers
26
Articles
19
Reach
45
A
AnonymousAuthor
