Visa, Stripe, BlackRock and Coinbase back Open USD stablecoin alliance
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire challenged key Open USD claims after the consortium unveiled a fee-free, shared-reserve-income stablecoin expected to launch later in 2026 on Solana, Stellar, Base and Polygon.
Open Standard says its dollar-pegged Open USD stablecoin is backed by more than 140 companies including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, American Express, BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, U.S. Bank and Coinbase, and is expected to go live later in 2026 on Solana, Stellar, Base and Polygon. The consortium says Open USD will charge no minting or redemption fees, impose no volume limits and return most reserve income, minus a management fee, to participating companies, directly challenging the issuer-led economics used by Circle and Tether. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire pushed back publicly, arguing that stablecoin networks are long-term, winner-take-most platform businesses and defending USDC’s network effects and institutional position, while ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente and other critics questioned whether a large consortium can overcome governance, regulatory, antitrust and capital-retention risks.
- stablecoin: A digital token designed to maintain a fixed value, often by being pegged to a currency such as the U.S. dollar.
- reserve income: Yield earned on the assets backing a stablecoin, which some issuers keep and others may share with partners.
- network effects: Advantage gained as more users, distributors or applications join a payment or settlement system, making it harder for new entrants to compete.