Open USD: Over 140 Giants Including Visa, Stripe, and Coinbase Back New Stablecoin Project
More than 140 companies including Visa, Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock have announced Open USD, a new stablecoin governed by an independent consortium with shared economics and zero minting fees. The network is set to launch later this year.
A landmark coalition of more than 140 companies spanning finance, technology, payments, and crypto has jointly announced the creation of Open USD — a new stablecoin initiative aimed at reshaping how digital dollars are issued, governed, and used across the global economy.
The project brings together some of the most recognizable names in the industry. Participants include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, BlackRock, Coinbase, Bybit, OKX, Ripple, Crypto.com, Shopify, DoorDash, Google, IBM, Standard Chartered, DBS, BNY, U.S. Bank, Adyen, Fiserv, Fireblocks, MetaMask, Aave, Solana, Polygon, and Stellar, among many others.
At the heart of the project is a fundamentally different approach to stablecoin governance. While most stablecoins today are controlled by a single issuing entity, Open USD will be managed by an independent organization called Open Standard. Its board is composed of representatives from the participating partners, ensuring no single company holds unilateral control over the network.
Three principles define the Open USD model: zero fees on minting and redemption regardless of scale, distribution of reserve income among partners after a management fee is applied, and a collaborative governance structure built to resist centralization.
Founding CEO Zach Abrams explained that the consortium was formed in direct response to the pain points businesses experience with existing stablecoins. According to Abrams, companies currently struggle with steep minting and redemption costs, restricted access to yield generated by reserves, and dependency on the strategic decisions of third-party issuers.
"Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that's open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests," Abrams stated.
Key executives from partner companies also weighed in on the launch. Stripe's President of Technology and Business, Will Gaybrick, indicated that Open USD is expected to become the default stablecoin for businesses operating on the Stripe platform. Meanwhile, Jack Forestell, Visa's Chief Product and Strategy Officer, emphasized that governance integrity, cross-platform interoperability, and user trust will be critical factors as stablecoins continue to integrate more deeply into global financial infrastructure.
The scope of the consortium is notably broad. It spans traditional banking institutions, global card networks, cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain protocols, enterprise software companies, and consumer-facing commerce platforms. This diversity is seen as a key advantage — allowing Open USD to address the needs of a wide range of use cases, from cross-border payments to on-chain commerce.
Open Standard confirmed that the stablecoin is expected to go live before the end of this year. No specific launch date has been disclosed, but the organization says technical and regulatory groundwork is already well underway.
The announcement signals a growing appetite among major financial and technology players to move beyond fragmented stablecoin infrastructure toward a more unified, equitable, and scalable system for global money movement.
