Consortium supported by payments giants, including Visa Inc (New York:V), Stripe Inc. and Mastercard Inc (New York:MA), has officially launched a new USD-pegged stablecoin—one of the most large-scale moves by traditional financial institutions into the world of digital currencies.
A token called Open USD (OUSD), developed as part of the Open Standard initiative, is now available to corporate developers and companies creating next-generation financial services in banking, payments, and cross-border transactions. The initial rollout is being supported by Visa, Stripe, Coinbase Global Inc., and BVNK (owned by Mastercard), and Shopify Inc. has joined the group, committing to issue tokens totaling roughly $1 billion to ensure immediate liquidity.
Issued directly by Stripe’s subsidiary, Bridge—OUSD is backed by U.S. dollar reserves managed by BlackRock, Lead Bank, and BNY, with monthly public reports on the reserve volumes. The token will operate natively across several major blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo, and initial trading support is planned on platforms such as Uniswap, Kraken, and Coinbase.
The launch underscores how established payment networks are increasingly integrating stablecoin technology, aiming to bypass the limitations of traditional clearing systems through cheaper, faster, and programmable settlement mechanisms. Momentum in the industry is growing amid a favorable regulatory climate in the U.S., where federal policymakers are actively developing frameworks to promote dollar-backed digital assets on an international scale.
Despite strong institutional support, Open Standard is entering a highly concentrated market that is currently dominated by USDT from Tether and USDC from Circle, which control the vast majority of global stablecoin liquidity. Previous attempts by major payment providers to capture a significant share of the market ran into limited initial demand—a precedent that OUSD aims to overcome with a partner rewards program that distributes the platform’s economic benefits and equity among participating institutions.
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