Circle Internet Group saw its shares tumble more than 17 percent in a single day last week. The drop came after a powerful group of more than 140 companies, banks and fintech players announced plans for a new dollar-pegged token. They call it Open USD. Or OUSD. And it takes direct aim at the economics that have made USDC one of the most profitable products in crypto.
The consortium, organized under a new entity called Open Standard, includes heavyweights such as Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Coinbase, Ripple, Shopify, Google, IBM and Solana itself. Zach Abrams, co-founder of stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge which Stripe acquired in 2024, leads the effort. “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,” Abrams said in the announcement covered by CoinDesk.
This isn’t just another token launch. The design flips the script on how stablecoin revenue flows. Traditional issuers like Circle invest the cash reserves backing their tokens in short-term U.S. Treasuries. They keep the bulk of the interest. In 2025 Circle generated $2.63 billion of its $2.75 billion total revenue this way, according to reporting in Yahoo Finance. Open USD promises to hand nearly all that yield back to the businesses that mint, route or hold the tokens. Minus a modest management fee. Minting and redemption come free. Governance sits with the partner coalition rather than a single company.
Circle’s stock, which trades under ticker CRCL, closed below $63. That marked its weakest level since late February and left it down 55 percent from mid-May highs. The reaction reflected investor fears that a broad alliance of distribution partners could siphon away the very incentives that have driven USDC adoption among institutions. Yet Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire struck a confident tone. “Stablecoins represent one of the largest market opportunities in the world as the internet transforms the infrastructure for storing and moving money,” he posted on X. “We welcome continued innovation and competition in the space and look forward to remaining laser-focused on building the best stablecoin infrastructure possible and driving more customer and partner success.”
The stablecoin sector now exceeds $300 billion in total value. Tether’s USDT holds roughly 62 percent of the market while USDC commands about 25 percent, per April data cited in Fortune. USDC itself stood near $73 billion in market capitalization at the time of the announcement, with Tether near $145 billion. Citi analysts project the overall market could swell to $4 trillion by 2030 as these tokens power cross-border payments, corporate treasuries and on-chain settlements. Growth has already shifted. USDC transactions skyrocketed 247 percent in one recent quarter, according to earlier coverage in PYMNTS.
But the competitive dynamics are changing fast. Open USD launches first on Solana, a blockchain that currently hosts only about $15 billion in stablecoin value compared with Ethereum’s $154 billion. The choice signals a bet on speed and low costs. It also hands Solana an early edge in what could become a flood of new activity. The Motley Fool noted that the network stands to capture substantial fees and capital inflows if OUSD gains traction. Ethereum, despite its deeper liquidity today, was passed over for the initial deployment.
This model draws inspiration from earlier efforts like Paxos-led Global Dollar Network, which shares reserve income with partners including Robinhood, Kraken and Galaxy Digital. Similar experiments have appeared in Europe with euro stablecoins. The breadth of Open Standard’s backers sets it apart. Major banks such as BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS and U.S. Bank sit alongside crypto natives like Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, MetaMask, Aave, Polygon and Mercado Pago. Even Alphabet and Meta platforms appear in the partner list. Such alignment could accelerate distribution across payments, commerce and decentralized finance.
Still, questions linger. Coordinating more than 140 organizations sounds simple on paper. In practice it means herding powerful entities with competing priorities. Governance by committee has tripped up past consortium projects. Regulatory clarity helps. The GENIUS Act passed in 2025 gave stablecoins a clearer U.S. framework, including national trust bank charters for issuers like Circle. Yet Open USD must still navigate attestation standards, anti-money laundering rules and potential scrutiny over yield distribution. Circle has built its position on monthly Deloitte attestations, licenses across major jurisdictions and integration with traditional finance rails.
Circle has not stood still. Its USDC supply reached $75.3 billion earlier this year with quarterly on-chain volume hitting $11.9 trillion. The company went public and continues to expand into tokenized assets and enterprise payments. Allaire has emphasized that USDC now accounts for roughly 80 percent of all dollar digital currency transactions in some periods. That utility focus may prove more durable than pure yield plays.
Recent market moves show the pressure. Tether launched its own regulated USAT stablecoin in January 2026 to target U.S. institutional demand directly. Other entrants like PayPal’s PYUSD and Ripple’s RLUSD carve specialized niches. The fragmentation that analysts once predicted has arrived. No longer does the market split neatly between an offshore giant and a compliant U.S. alternative. Multiple models now compete on incentives, speed, transparency and control.
Open USD won’t launch until later this year. Details on exact reserve custody, redemption mechanics and initial liquidity provisions remain sparse. Success will depend on whether partners actually shift volume from existing rails. Many already earn fees or hold stakes in the USDC ecosystem. Coinbase, for instance, receives substantial annual payments from Circle for distribution. That arrangement expires in August. The timing feels pointed.
Yet the stablecoin pie is expanding rapidly enough that multiple winners could emerge. Transaction volumes have surpassed those of Visa and Mastercard combined in some recent periods. Enterprises use these tokens for treasury management, suppliers tap them for instant settlement and traders move billions daily. In that environment a coalition offering aligned economics may pull meaningful share without destroying incumbents.
Investors punished Circle shares on the news. The stock has since recovered some ground but remains volatile. Analysts at Jefferies and others have turned more cautious on the name citing intensified rivalry. Others see the selloff as overdone. The broader opportunity, they argue, runs into the trillions as money infrastructure digitizes. Circle still leads in regulated institutional flows. Its compliance posture and existing integrations give it staying power.
The real test will come in execution. Can Open Standard deliver on its promises of openness and shared upside without descending into coordination paralysis? Will banks and payment giants route enough business to move the needle against Tether’s entrenched trading liquidity and Circle’s compliance moat? Early signals suggest the coalition carries real weight. But history shows that flashy consortium announcements don’t always translate into market dominance.
One thing looks clear. The era of stablecoin competition has escalated from marketing slogans to battles over core revenue mechanics and governance rights. Businesses that mint, hold or transfer digital dollars now have a credible alternative that returns value directly to them rather than concentrating it with a single issuer. How Circle, Tether and the new entrant adapt will shape the next phase of digital money. The stakes run high. Trillions in future economic activity hang in the balance.
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