A consortium that includes Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase on Tuesday announced the formation of a new stablecoin initiative aimed at expanding the real-world use of dollar-pegged digital tokens. The venture, operating under the name Open Standard, counts more than 140 participating companies and plans to issue a new U.S.-dollar backed stablecoin called Open USD, which the group said is expected to go live later this year.
Open Standard presents the project as a response to practical constraints companies face when attempting to roll out stablecoin-based payments and services at scale. The venture emphasised commercial accessibility and cost-efficiency as core design principles.
"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," Open Standard founding CEO Zach Abrams said.
The initiative will permit partner businesses to mint and redeem Open USD without incurring fees and without imposed volume limits, according to the group's description of its operating model. Earnings generated by the reserves that back Open USD will be distributed among the initiative's partners, with a management fee deducted to cover operational expenses.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to hold a stable value by being backed by traditional fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar or euro. Despite their growth within cryptocurrency markets, stablecoins largely function today as liquidity and trading tools rather than as commonplace instruments for sending or receiving payments.
Regulatory developments have begun to touch the sector. The article notes that U.S. President Donald Trump last year signed the GENIUS Act into law, creating federal rules and guidelines intended to govern stablecoins. At the time, that legislation was described by experts as a step intended to facilitate broader crypto usage and to support the potential evolution of digital assets into routine payment mechanisms.
Market participants have expressed that a neutral governance framework combined with shared economic incentives could enable further adoption. Carolyn Weinberg, chief product and innovation officer at BNY, said the combination of neutral governance and shared economics "is a unique combination that has potential to unlock the next phase of digital assets growth."
The launch of Open Standard follows other industry efforts: some fintech and crypto firms earlier in 2024 formed the Global Dollar Network, another attempt to create a global stablecoin ecosystem.
As described by Open Standard, Open USD is positioned to address specific commercial frictions by removing costs and limits for issuing and redeeming the token while distributing reserve earnings to partners after a management fee. How market participants, payments providers and businesses adopt the token when it launches later this year will determine whether the project helps shift stablecoins beyond their current primary use as trading instruments.