Global large financial institutions are accelerating their entry into the stablecoin market. A total of 21 international financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, have announced plans to jointly establish a new company in the second half of 2026. The company will first launch a U.S.-dollar-denominated stablecoin, with the goal of formally entering the market in the first half of 2027.

The new company’s name has not yet been determined, and the incorporation plan also needs to fulfill relevant requirements. The alliance said the new company will target the global market. A dollar stablecoin will be only the first phase; the long-term plan includes other seven major industrialized countries’ currencies. Among them, a euro stablecoin has been listed as a priority development item.

According to the announcement, the product is expected to serve wholesale, institutional, and parts of the retail market. Use cases include cross-border payments, transfers of funds by financial institutions, and digital asset settlement. The alliance aims to combine the compliance capabilities, governance frameworks, client distribution networks, and risk-management experience of participating institutions to build a bank-level regulated digital money infrastructure.

This initiative stems from stablecoin research launched in October 2025. At the time, 10 international banks jointly assessed issuing a digital payment asset backed 1:1 by reserve assets and transferable on public blockchains. Less than a year later, the participating institutions expanded to 21, moving from concept research into company formation and product implementation stages.

The alliance says the plan will comply with the United States (GENIUS Act) and the European Union (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) (MiCA), where applicable. In July 2025, the U.S. will sign the (GENIUS Act) into law, creating a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The framework includes eligible issuers, 1:1 reserves of liquid assets, periodic reserve disclosures, and anti-money-laundering requirements. MiCA, meanwhile, has already set out issuance and operating rules for asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens within the EU.

At this point, traditional financial giants are teaming up to enter the market, directly confronting the market network established by Tether and Circle. Data from DeFiLlama shows that the global total stablecoin market capitalization is currently about $303.9 billion, of which USDT is about $183.3 billion and USDC is about $73.7 billion; together, the two account for roughly 84.6% of the overall market.

However, a bank’s brand and regulatory advantages do not necessarily mean the market will adopt stablecoins quickly. Beyond reserve safety, the key competitive factors include on-chain liquidity, integration with trading platforms and wallets, cross-chain interoperability, real-time redemption capability, and whether it can form a sufficiently broad network for payments and settlement. Reuters noted that the existing stock of dollar stablecoins issued by banks remains relatively limited, suggesting that once major financial institutions enter, the real test lies in usage demand and network effects.

If 21 institutions can complete company formation on schedule and obtain the required regulatory approvals, this initiative may be more than just another dollar stablecoin—it could also become an important attempt to establish cross-border on-chain settlement standards that traditional banks build together. Conversely, if regulations, reserve arrangements, and technical architecture across jurisdictions cannot be unified, the launch timeline for the first half of 2027 may still be delayed.

"21 financial giants join forces to set up a stablecoin company, first offering a dollar stablecoin to hit the market in the first half of 2027" This article was first published on (Block Chat).