Open USD Names Card Networks, Banks And Fintech Backers

Open Standard said more than 140 businesses are backing Open USD, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, Adyen, Klarna Group, Affirm Holdings, Western Union, MoneyGram, U.S. Bank, Citizens Bank, BNY and Coinbase.

Open Standard said the stablecoin is expected to go live later this year.

It said Zach Abrams, chief executive of the Stripe-owned stablecoin platform Bridge, will lead the company at least on an interim basis.

The partner list gives Open USD a payments-industry structure rather than a crypto-exchange-only launch.

Card networks, money-transfer companies, banks, fintech firms and Coinbase are all named in the consortium.

Coinbase has previously backed Circle Internet Group’s USDC.

Open Standard’s launch statement described Open USD as “open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible” and aligned to partner interests.

Those are consortium claims, not independent proof of lower payment costs or merchant adoption.

Open Standard did not include live transaction data, named merchant deployments or audited cost comparisons with USDC or other stablecoins.

Open Standard Says Minting And Redemption Would Have No Cost

Open Standard listed three design principles for Open USD.

It said businesses face prohibitive fees to mint and redeem stablecoins at scale, and said Open USD would allow that access at no cost and with no artificial volume limits.

The consortium also said earnings from Open USD’s reserves would be split among partners after a management fee for operational costs.

Reserve economics are part of the commercial pitch.

Open Standard did not disclose the management-fee percentage, the reserve assets, the custodian structure or how partner revenue shares would be calculated.

Open Standard also said the stablecoin would be governed through a board composed of Open USD partner members.

The announcement framed that structure as a way to avoid control by a single entity.

Open Standard did not provide board voting rules, veto rights, member eligibility conditions or dispute procedures.

Stripe’s Bridge Deal Gives The Launch A Banking Link

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved Bridge for a national trust bank charter in February.

Stripe bought Bridge early last year in a deal worth $1.1 billion.

Open Standard is presenting Open USD as payment infrastructure for businesses, not only as a traded digital asset.

U.S. lawmakers have also been working on stablecoin rules after the Genius Act passed last year.

The law provides a framework for oversight.

Open USD enters a market where product design, bank-charter permissions and regulatory treatment all sit close together.

Visa, Mastercard And BNY Frame The Stablecoin As Shared Infrastructure

Several named partners described Open USD as payments infrastructure.

Will Gaybrick, Stripe’s president of technology and business, said businesses need a stablecoin designed for the 2040 economy and called Open USD the “default stablecoin” for the payment processor’s partner businesses.

Coinbase chief business officer Shan Aggarwal said shared infrastructure could narrow the gap between current payments and what payments should be.

Visa chief product and strategy officer Jack Forestell said stablecoins should shift focus from speed to reliability, governance and interoperability, and said Visa would bring risk standards and operational discipline to Open USD.

Mastercard chief product officer Jorn Lambert said the infrastructure behind stablecoins should be open, interoperable and broadly accessible.

Adyen chief technology officer Tom Adams said the company was joining Open Standard to help shape an open, merchant-first foundation for stablecoin utility.

BNY chief product and innovation officer Carolyn Weinberg said the bank expects stablecoins to account for $1.5 trillion in value by 2030.

Open Standard did not disclose a launch date beyond later this year, the management-fee percentage, partner voting terms, reserve-custody details or first merchant deployments.