Open Standard unveiled Open USD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by a consortium of more than 140 financial and technology companies including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Stripe, and Coinbase. The new token is designed to allow businesses that adopt it to keep reserve earnings and governance rights, rather than sending those profits to a single issuer. The announcement sent shares of Circle — issuer of the rival USDC — down 8% in trading.
Expected to launch later this year, Open USD will offer fee-free minting and redemption with no volume caps, according to Open Standard. This revenue-sharing model distinguishes it from existing stablecoins like USDC and USDT, where the issuer retains most interest income from the reserve assets backing each token.
The initiative arrives amid growing regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the United States. Legislation such as the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act is moving through Congress, creating a clearer framework for digital dollar tokens. Open Standard's consortium structure may help spread compliance costs and reduce the risk of any single point of regulatory failure.
Circle's USDC has a market capitalization of approximately $35 billion, while Tether's USDT dominates the sector at over $110 billion. Open USD's entry could shift market share if its revenue-sharing approach attracts large-scale partners. The stablecoin sector overall has grown to a $200 billion market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum price movements showing low correlation to individual stablecoin issuance this quarter.
The developer community has reacted with cautious optimism, noting that Open USD's governance model may prevent the kind of centralized freeze events seen in other protocols. Competitors like Paxos and Gemini are reportedly exploring similar partnership structures, though no formal announcements have been made.