Open Standard issues dollar stablecoin backed by Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard

A coalition of major payment providers, including Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard, have recently launched a new US dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD). The Open Standard initiative developed the token, which is now available for enterprise developers and businesses to use in various financial services such as banking, settlement, and cross-border transactions.

Initial deployment is backed by Visa, Stripe, Coinbase Global, and Mastercard's BVNK, with Shopify committing to minting roughly $1 billion in total token supply to ensure immediate liquidity. OUSD is backed by dollar reserves held by BlackRock, Lead Bank, and BNY, with monthly reserve attestations released publicly. The token operates on major blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo, and has initial exchange support on Uniswap, Kraken, and Coinbase.

The launch highlights how traditional finance entities are increasingly integrating stablecoin technology to overcome legacy clearing constraints and offer faster, cheaper, and more programmable settlement rails. The sector has seen growing momentum due to a favorable US regulatory environment, with federal policymakers actively exploring frameworks to promote dollar-backed digital assets globally.

Despite strong institutional backing, OUSD enters a market dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, which hold the majority of global stablecoin liquidity. Previous efforts by incumbent payment providers to capture market share have had limited initial adoption, a situation OUSD aims to address through a partner reward structure that shares platform economics and equity with participating institutions.