Stripe, Visa, and Bank of New York Mellon are among dozens of financial firms teaming up to introduce a stablecoin, part of a strategy to widen the appeal of digital money-movement technology.
A coalition of over 100 firms
The new venture, known as Open Standard, has more than 100 backers spanning fintechs, payment networks, cryptocurrency firms, and banks, according to a blog post shared with Bloomberg News.
Other members include BlackRock, Klarna, Chime Financial, Alphabet, and Coinbase Global.
Open Standard will issue its own US dollar-backed stablecoin called Open USD.
All of the partners plan to integrate the token into their systems in some way once it goes live later this year.
Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of the Stripe-owned stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, will serve as Open Standard’s interim CEO. He said:
“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.”
Riding the stablecoin wave
Stablecoins have grown in popularity, especially in the US, after President Donald Trump backed new regulations governing the technology.
Their value is typically pegged to the dollar and backed by reserves of short-term treasuries and cash, making them useful for cross-border transactions and minimizing exposure to volatile currencies.
Many partners already use or issue their own stablecoins. Klarna introduced one in November, Mastercard acquired infrastructure startup BVNK earlier this year, and Stripe, recently valued at $159 billion, has long embraced the technology.
Sharing the yield
Despite all the activity, Tether and Circle still dominate the market by volume, with PayPal’s PYUSD a distant contender.
None of those three are part of Open Standard.
Unlike most issuers that keep reserve yield for themselves, Open Standard will share earnings among partners, minus a small management fee. BNY’s chief product and innovation officer Carolyn Weinberg said:
“A stablecoin with neutral governance and shared economics is a unique combination that has potential to unlock the next phase of digital assets growth.”
