Open USD (OUSD) is a new US-dollar-backed stablecoin unveiled on June 30, 2026 by Open Standard, a consortium of more than 140 companies -- including Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, BlackRock, Stripe, Google, and Ripple -- and it is set to launch natively on Solana, with Base, Stellar, and Polygon to follow later in 2026, according to Bitcoin Magazine and Fortune. Like USDC and USDT, one OUSD token is designed to always be worth about $1, backed by cash and short-term US Treasuries. What makes it different is not the peg -- it is who gets paid.

This is a plain-English explainer of what Open USD actually is: who is behind it, how its economics differ from Tether and Circle, which blockchains it runs on, why Circle's stock dropped on the news, and what is still unknown. As of mid-July 2026 OUSD is announced but not yet live, so parts of this are a picture of intent, not a finished product -- we flag which is which throughout.

Open USD is issued by Open Standard, an independent company led by founding CEO Zach Abrams, co-founder of the stablecoin-infrastructure firm Bridge, which Stripe acquired in 2024, per Fortune. Rather than a single issuer controlling the token, Open Standard describes a partner board drawn from the consortium that makes protocol decisions collectively, according to QuickNode's explainer.

The named backer list is unusually broad for a crypto launch. Reporting from Bitcoin Magazine and CoinDesk lists more than 140 participants across four camps:

• Card and payment networks: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Stripe
• Banks and asset managers: BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, U.S. Bank
• Big tech: Google, Shopify, Samsung, IBM
• Crypto firms: Coinbase, Ripple, MetaMask, Aave, Bybit, OKX, Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, plus Solana Labs and Polygon

That mix -- the two largest card networks, the world's biggest asset manager, and the largest US crypto exchange in one consortium -- is why the launch drew immediate attention.

Every dollar stablecoin holds reserves and earns interest on them. The novel part of OUSD is where that interest goes.

With Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT), the issuer keeps the yield earned on the Treasuries backing the token. Open USD inverts that. According to QuickNode and Bitcoin Magazine:

• Businesses mint and redeem OUSD for free, with no volume caps.
• Most of the reserve income flows to the businesses that distribute and hold OUSD, not to the issuer. Open Standard keeps only a small fixed management fee to run the network.

In practice, a fintech, exchange, or merchant that moves OUSD earns a share of the interest generated by its own customers' balances -- income that would otherwise sit with the issuer. It is a business-to-business incentive, and this is the important part for anyone reading as a consumer: that reserve income accrues to the companies operating the network, not to you for holding or spending the token. Holding OUSD is not a yield product or an income opportunity; it is a dollar stablecoin that happens to pay its distributors instead of its issuer. We spell that out because the "shared revenue" framing is easy to misread.

Here is how the three stack up on the details that matter, using figures reported around the launch. Market caps are approximate and move constantly.

Market-cap figures are per Bitcoin Magazine. For the fuller landscape -- total stablecoin supply, settlement volume, and the USDT-versus-USDC split -- see our stablecoin statistics breakdown.

Solana first. Open USD is designed to launch natively on Solana from day one, with Base, Stellar, and Polygon expected to follow later in 2026, per QuickNode and Fortune.

Leading with Solana is a deliberate choice. Solana settles transactions in seconds for a fraction of a cent, which is the kind of speed and cost profile a payments-first stablecoin needs -- it is why so many dollar tokens already run there. If you want the background on why that chain keeps showing up in payments, our Solana payments guide covers the mechanics.

The clearest signal of how seriously the market took OUSD was Circle's share price. Circle (CRCL) fell roughly 15% to 17% on June 30, 2026, the day of the announcement, closing near $63 -- a four-month low, according to Bitcoin Magazine and coinpaprika.

The reason is structural. Reserve income is the core of Circle's business: of the roughly $694 million Circle booked in Q1, about $653 million came from reserve interest on the Treasuries backing USDC, per reporting from FinanceFeeds. OUSD's entire design hands that income stream to distribution partners instead of the issuer -- so if the model works, it pressures the exact revenue line that makes single-issuer stablecoins profitable. That is the competitive threat, and the market priced it in within hours.

For context on how stablecoins have already grown into one of the largest settlement rails in the world, see our state of crypto payments 2026 report.

OUSD is a launch announcement, not a shipped product, and several things are genuinely unresolved. It is worth being honest about them rather than treating the press release as reality:

• It is not live yet. The token is expected to go live "later in 2026." Timelines slip.
• Not every named partner has formally committed, and the exact reserve-income allocation formulas and operational mechanics remain undisclosed, per QuickNode. A logo on a launch list is not the same as production integration.
• Governance-by-consortium is untested at this scale. An Ark Invest researcher was skeptical, summarized by Crypto Economy as "owned by everyone, built by no one" -- the concern being that shared control can mean slow decisions and diffuse accountability.
• USDT and USDC have a decade of liquidity and integrations. Distribution incentives are powerful, but network effects and regulatory clarity, not economics alone, will decide whether OUSD reaches meaningful scale.

Our read: the backer list makes OUSD the most credible new-stablecoin entrant in years, and the incentive design is a real innovation in a market where the economics had barely changed since 2018. But "most credible entrant" and "displaces USDT/USDC" are very different claims, and only adoption over the next few years will tell them apart.

For anyone who actually spends dollar stablecoins in the real world, the practical takeaway from OUSD is smaller than the headlines suggest -- and that is fine.

A stablecoin only becomes spendable money when something authorizes against your balance on a card network at the point of sale. That is what a crypto debit card does: it converts your token to local fiat when you tap or swipe, so a merchant sees an ordinary Visa or Mastercard payment. Which specific dollar stablecoin sits behind the card matters far less than the peg being solid and the settlement chain being fast and cheap -- which is exactly why OUSD is launching on Solana in the first place.

To be clear about the present tense: OUSD is not live, and no card supports it today, including SolCard. What SolCard already does is let you load USDC, USDT, or SOL over Solana and spend at 150M+ merchants where Visa is accepted, with top-ups settling in seconds for a fraction of a cent -- the same rails a Solana-native token like OUSD would eventually ride. If OUSD ships as planned, it would be one more dollar stablecoin doing what stablecoin spenders already do today, not a new capability. If you want to start spending stablecoins now, our how to pay with crypto guide walks through it.

Open USD is a US-dollar-backed stablecoin announced on June 30, 2026 by Open Standard, a consortium of more than 140 companies including Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, BlackRock, Stripe, and Google, per Fortune. Each token is designed to be worth about $1, backed by cash and short-term US Treasuries. Its defining feature is that most of the interest earned on those reserves goes to the businesses distributing the token rather than to a single issuer.

It is issued by Open Standard, an independent company led by founding CEO Zach Abrams, co-founder of the stablecoin firm Bridge (acquired by Stripe in 2024), according to Fortune. Protocol decisions are made by a partner board drawn from the 140-plus company consortium rather than by one company.

As of mid-July 2026 OUSD is announced but not yet live, with a go-live expected later in 2026. It is designed to launch natively on Solana first, followed by Base, Stellar, and Polygon, per QuickNode and Bitcoin Magazine.

The peg and Treasury backing are similar; the economics are not. With USDC (Circle) and USDT (Tether), the issuer keeps the interest earned on reserves. With OUSD, most of that income goes to the businesses that distribute and hold the token, minus a small management fee kept by Open Standard, per QuickNode. Note that this revenue-sharing is a business-to-business arrangement -- it does not pay individual holders for using the token.

No. The reserve-income sharing flows to the companies operating and distributing OUSD, not to individuals for holding or spending it. Like any stablecoin, OUSD is meant to hold a steady $1 value, not to generate returns for the person holding it.

Circle (CRCL) fell roughly 15% to 17% on June 30, 2026, closing near $63, per Bitcoin Magazine and coinpaprika. Reserve interest is the bulk of Circle's revenue (about $653 million of $694 million in Q1, per FinanceFeeds), and OUSD's model redirects that income to distribution partners, which markets read as a direct competitive threat.

Not yet -- OUSD is not live, and no card supports it as of mid-2026. Cards like SolCard already let you spend other dollar stablecoins such as USDC and USDT over Solana at Visa merchants today; if OUSD launches on Solana as planned, it would run on the same kind of rails. See our best crypto debit cards comparison for how spending stablecoins with a card works now.

Open USD is the most heavily backed attempt yet to challenge USDT and USDC, and its consortium model -- routing reserve income to the businesses that use the token rather than to a single issuer -- is a genuine break from how stablecoins have worked since 2018. Whether that translates into real adoption is unproven, and the token is not live yet. For people who simply want to spend dollars that live on a blockchain, the mechanics do not change much: you still need a card that turns a stablecoin balance into everyday purchasing power. SolCard does that today with USDC and USDT over Solana -- see how to pay with crypto to get started.

• Bitcoin Magazine -- Visa, Mastercard, and Over 140 Companies Back Open USD
• Fortune -- Stripe, Visa and over 140 businesses to launch stablecoin to rival Tether and Circle
• QuickNode -- What Is Open USD (OUSD)?
• CoinDesk -- Circle Slides as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock Back Rival Stablecoin Network
• FinanceFeeds -- Open USD stablecoin explained: inside the 140-company bid to unseat USDC
• coinpaprika -- Circle Stock Sinks 17% as 140 Firms Back Open USD
• news.bitcoin.com -- Ark Invest Researcher Doubts Open USD Can Beat Circle
• Crypto Economy -- "Owned by Everyone, Built by No One": Ark Invest Skeptical of Open USD