Open USD (OUSD): the stablecoin backed by 140 companies, explained

On 30 June 2026 a company called Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD), which it calls “a new stablecoin for global money movement”. The announcement listed more than 140 partner businesses: payment networks and processors (Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, American Express, Adyen), banks and asset managers (BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered), technology and commerce companies (Google, Shopify) and crypto firms (Coinbase, Ripple, Solana). Open Standard describes itself as an independent company. Its founding CEO is Zach Abrams, a co-founder of Bridge, the stablecoin company Stripe owns.

Three design claims carry the pitch, and all three are the consortium's own:

• Free to mint and redeem. Businesses can create and redeem OUSD at no cost, with “no artificial limits on volume”.
• Reserve income goes to partners. Earnings on the reserve assets are shared with the partners, less “a small management fee” to cover operating costs. The fee is not stated.
• Shared governance. A board made up of the partners, rather than a single issuer's board.

On timing: Reuters reported at the announcement that the token was expected to go live later in 2026. Launch-week coverage, including Forbes and PYMNTS, reports it went live on 30 September 2026, with businesses able to start through integration paths run by Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard and Visa. One outlet noted that not every path was yet live.

The reserve-income line is the point. The Next Web notes that reserve income produced most of Circle's revenue last year, which is why Circle's shares reportedly fell 15–17% on the day OUSD was announced. An Ark Invest researcher quoted by The Next Web doubted OUSD could unseat Circle given the incumbent's distribution advantages, and CoinShares' own view is that USDC's liquidity and integrations are a durable moat. Those are opinions; neither has been tested yet.

One regulatory detail explains the structure. The US GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, created a federal framework for payment stablecoins and, as CoinShares reads it, bars issuers from paying yield directly to holders. OUSD therefore routes reserve income to the distribution partners, not to the people holding the token.

Open Standard's announcement is a design statement, not a prospectus. These are the gaps to close before you treat OUSD like a dollar:

• Reserves. The announcement does not give the reserve composition, the custodians or how often reserves are attested. One launch-week report names BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY and monthly attestations; we could not confirm that in Open Standard's own materials.
• The issuer. Some outlets say Bridge issues OUSD, others say Open Standard. It matters, because the issuer is the entity you redeem with and the one a regulator supervises.
• Chains. The announcement does not list the blockchains. Launch coverage reports Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo.
• The numbers. The management fee and the yield split between partners are not stated.
• The partner list. Shortly after the announcement, several Korean companies listed as partners — Samsung, Shinhan, Dunamu and K Bank — were reported as saying they had not formally agreed to join. Korean coverage on 1 October then reported Samsung and Dunamu as participating, without detail on their roles. Read “140 companies” as “140 listed partners”: a listing can mean anything from a launch integration to an expression of interest.

Nothing changes today. Customers who pay in a stablecoin overwhelmingly pay in USDT or USDC, and the network they choose usually decides the asset — see USDT on TRC-20, ERC-20 and BEP-20 compared. If OUSD gains share, it will be because large platforms such as Stripe make it the default for their merchants. When it reaches you, run it through the same checks you would apply to any stablecoin:

1. 01Which chains? You can only accept what your customers can send on a network your wallets and your processor support.
2. 02How do you get out? Who redeems OUSD for dollars, at what fee, with what limits and delays? “Free to mint and redeem” is Open Standard's statement about businesses; check the terms that apply to you.
3. 03What backs it, and who checks? Ask for the reserve breakdown, the custodians and the latest attestation.
4. 04Where does it trade? Launch coverage names Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap. Liquidity decides what a large conversion costs.
5. 05What is its legal status? Ask the issuer how it fits the GENIUS Act and your own jurisdiction.

The fair case for the shared model is neutrality and a wide distribution network. The fair case against is that it is new, its governance has never been tested in a crisis, and a consortium of 140 can be slower to act than one issuer. A stablecoin earns trust through years of holding its peg, not through its partner list. Compare payment tools on the same basis in how to choose a crypto payment gateway.

• Introducing Open USD — Open Standard (announcement, 30 June 2026)
• Visa, Mastercard and 140 firms launch Open USD — The Next Web
• Consortium including Visa, Mastercard jointly launch new global stablecoin — Reuters via US News
• What is Open USD and what does it mean for stablecoins? — CoinShares
• OUSD stablecoin goes live — Forbes
• Payment giants launch Open USD — PYMNTS
• Samsung, Korean firms deny Open USD partnership — BeInCrypto and Samsung, Shinhan join Open USD network — The Korea Herald