OUSD launch comes as US lawmakers advance the CLARITY Act, with supporters arguing that clearer crypto rules will spur institutional adoption.
- Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Coinbase are backing Open USD, a new stablecoin aimed at challenging USDC and USDT.
- OUSD will share reserve income with partners, unlike incumbents such as Circle and Tether, which retain most of that revenue.
- The consortium also includes major banks, fintechs, crypto firms, and tech companies, while Circle, Tether, and PayPal are not participating.
On Tuesday, a coalition of major payment, banking, and crypto firms, including Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Stripe, BlackRock (BLK), and Coinbase (COIN), is backing a new dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD).
The stablecoin was being developed by Open Standard in an effort that would challenge market leaders Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) and Tether’s USDT. Partners for the new stablecoin include BNY, Standard Chartered, BBVA, and DBS.
Fintech firms including Adyen, SoFi (SOFI), Klarna and Shopify (SHOP), and crypto firms like Coinbase, Gemini, Galaxy (GLXY), Ripple (XRP), Crypto.com (CRO) and Polygon (POL), as well as tech giants like Google (GOOGL) and IBM (IBM), also participated as partners for the new stablecoin.
Taking On The Incumbents
Together, Circle (CRCL) and Tether (USDT) control roughly 80% of the more than $300 billion stablecoin market. According to a Bloomberg report, Tether, Circle, and PayPal (PYPL) will not participate in the Open Standard project.
According to Open Standard, OUSD’s defining feature is its economic structure. The company explained that nearly all the revenue generated from the stablecoin’s reserves, minus a small management fee, will be shared with the companies that adopt and distribute it, an arrangement it says is designed to reward participants for growing adoption of the shared asset.
That model marks a departure from issuers like Circle and Tether, which retain the bulk of the reserve income generated by their tokens.
CRCL stock is down over 13% in midday trading. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around CRCL moved to the ‘bullish’ zone from the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.
Timed To A Shifting Regulatory Backdrop
The effort comes as US stablecoin regulation moves toward clearer rules. The CLARITY Act is heading toward a Senate vote, with Republican leaders pressing for action in July, while the GENIUS Act has already established federal standards for stablecoin reserves and licensing.
Such regulatory clarity would favor large, well-capitalized entrants with established compliance infrastructure.
The OUSD launch drew support from White House administration as well. Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, framed it as evidence of the payoff from clearer rules, writing that it was “another example of how clear rules of the road can unlock massive value.” He added, “What GENIUS did for stablecoins, the Clarity Act will do for all other digital assets.”
Read also: A $27M-Per-Megawatt Data Center Deal Just Gave Bitcoin Miners A Price Tag — And VanEck Says CIFR, HUT Are Way Too Cheap
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<