The "Shared" Stablecoin Backed by 140+ Firms: How Open USD (OUSD) Rewrites the Rules of Money Infrastructure

Why a "shared" model, and why now

Until now, stablecoins have been dominated by single issuers—Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC—who capture nearly all the yield on reserves (largely short-term U.S. Treasuries). Yet the businesses that actually grow circulation—payment firms, exchanges, wallets—see that economic value accrue to the issuer's balance sheet instead. This misalignment has been a key barrier to enterprise-scale use. OUSD inverts the premise: the yield flows back to those who bring the volume.

How it works: zero fees, shared revenue, collective governance

OUSD rests on three design principles. First, participating businesses can mint and redeem with no fees and no volume caps. Second, the majority of reserve earnings (minus a small management fee) is returned to partners who grow adoption. Third, the issuer is an independent company, Open Standard, whose board of partner firms makes decisions in the collective interest rather than for one company. Reserves are described as held at major institutions in compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements, though specific custodians and attestation practices were not disclosed at launch. The founding CEO is Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge (acquired by Stripe for about $1.1 billion in 2025). OUSD is blockchain-agnostic, with reports citing launch across multiple chains including Base, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Stellar and Tempo (accounts vary by outlet). Stripe plans to make OUSD its default stablecoin for businesses, and Coinbase will bring it to Base and other chains later this year.

Japanese participation and market reaction

From Japan, PayPay, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) and Rakuten Group have joined. Notably, MUFG—which leads the domestic three-megabank yen stablecoin effort—does not appear on the OUSD list. On announcement day, Circle (CRCL) fell more than 17% intraday to close at $62.63, a roughly four-month low; compounded by FTSE Russell index removals, the stock is down about 40% over 30 days. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire pushed back, citing USDC's trust and distribution advantages, while Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino quipped, "Welcome OUSD. Player 2 has entered the game."

The forward view and open questions

The stablecoin market now exceeds $300 billion (USDT about $145 billion, USDC about $73 billion), with projections ranging from $1.5 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030—an addressable prize large enough to unite fierce rivals around a common standard. Yet revenue-sharing consortia are unproven: Paxos-led USDG (Global Dollar Network) has struggled to gain share, and many observers draw parallels to the failed Facebook-led Libra/Diem. As one critic put it, adding a logo is easy; changing corporate behavior and business models is hard. Execution—maintaining alignment, custody arrangements, and regulatory licensing—will be the real test.

[Business Development Insights]

1. Japan's financial and payment majors (Mizuho, SMBC, Rakuten, PayPay) are joining OUSD as a dollar-denominated global settlement rail, even as the domestic three-megabank yen stablecoin (built on MUFG's Progmat) advances in parallel. A two-layer structure—"USD for cross-border/shared, JPY for domestic/live transactions"—is becoming realistic, making optimal allocation of a company's money flows across both rails a strategic question. MUFG's absence from the OUSD roster hints at diverging strategies among domestic players.
2. The axis of competition is shifting from "owning the token" to "building the distribution network." Because OUSD returns reserve income to adoption partners, payment firms, platforms, wallets and DeFi move from being "mere distribution channels" to "stakeholders sharing in the economics." Deciding which layer to integrate into—issuance partner, pay-in acceptance, pay-out, or agentic payments—becomes the starting point for designing a new revenue stream.
3. Execution risk is high: custodians and attestation frameworks are undisclosed; some participants (e.g., Coinbase) carry conflicts with existing USDC economics; and the Coinbase–Circle distribution deal comes up for renewal in August 2026. Rather than deep system integration up front, a staged approach—first securing OUSD as a low-cost, connectable "option" while watching governance, custody and licensing take concrete shape—is the prudent path.

[Sources]

• Open Standard official site (joinopenstandard.com): https://joinopenstandard.com/
• American Banker, "Open Standard's stablecoin draws Stripe, Visa and Mastercard": https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/open-standards-stablecoin-draws-stripe-visa-and-mastercard
• CoinDesk, "Circle slides as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock back rival stablecoin network": https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/30/circle-slides-8-as-stripe-coinbase-and-blackrock-back-rival-stablecoin-network
• The Defiant, "Circle CEO Rebuts OUSD Pitch, Defends USDC's Network Effects After Stock Slide": https://thedefiant.io/converge/markets/circle-ceo-rebuts-ousd-pitch-defends-usdc-s-network-effects-after-stock-slide
• crypto.news, "Circle stock falls 17.5% after Russell removals and Open USD launch": https://crypto.news/circle-stock-falls-17-5-after-russell-removals-and-open-usd-launch/
• Fireblocks, "Open USD: Fireblocks and the Next Stablecoin Wave": https://www.fireblocks.com/blog/open-usd-stablecoin-infrastructure-partner
• Forbes JAPAN, "グーグル・PayPay・楽天など140社超が支持、共同統治型ステーブルコイン『Open USD』": https://forbesjapan.com/articles/detail/100092
• CryptoTimes, "What Is Open USD (OUSD) Stablecoin?": https://www.cryptotimes.io/learn/what-is-open-usd-stablecoin/