140 Major Firms Launch Open USD Stablecoin with Revenue Sharing

A coalition of 140+ companies announced the creation of Open USD on June 30, 2026, a new stablecoin designed to move money across borders without the fees that plague existing tokens. The consortium includes payment giants Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe; crypto platforms Coinbase and Ripple; and asset manager BlackRock, signaling a major shift in how institutional players view stablecoin governance.

The project, governed by Open Standard (an independent company established to oversee the initiative), represents a departure from the centralized control models that dominate the current stablecoin market. Unlike USDC and USDT, which are controlled by their respective issuers, Open USD will operate with open governance, allowing participating partners to share revenue generated from reserves. Businesses will be able to mint and redeem Open USD without fees or volume limits, a direct challenge to the economics of existing stablecoins.

The stablecoin is expected to launch later in 2026. The timing matters: the stablecoin market has grown to over $150 billion in combined market cap for USDC and USDT alone, yet both tokens face criticism for concentrating earnings and governance power. Open USD's revenue-sharing model addresses that directly. Instead of reserve interest flowing to a single company, participating firms will share the returns generated by the underlying collateral.

The 140-member coalition spans payment infrastructure, banking, and cryptocurrency. This breadth suggests institutional acceptance of blockchain-based payments has matured significantly since the 2017 ICO era. Visa and Mastercard's participation is particularly notable: five years ago, these firms were skeptical of crypto rails. Today, they're building on them. Coinbase's involvement alongside competitors like Ripple indicates the project has support across the industry's fragmented landscape.

The governance structure itself is novel. With 140+ partners, Open USD must solve a coordination problem that previous consortium projects failed to crack. Libra, Facebook's stablecoin attempt in 2019, collapsed partly because regulators viewed its governance consortium as too opaque and too powerful. Open Standard will need to prove that transparent, distributed decision-making can work at scale. The revenue-sharing mechanism, while innovative, introduces complexity: how do 140 firms agree on reserve management, auditing standards, and protocol upgrades?

Adoption barriers remain steep. USDC and USDT have network effects that a new entrant must overcome. Developers, traders, and institutions have built infrastructure around the existing stablecoins. Exchange listings, DeFi integrations, and payment rails don't switch overnight. Open USD's fee-free minting and redemption is compelling for high-volume users, but it doesn't solve the cold-start problem of liquidity and utility.

Regulatory uncertainty also clouds the picture. The 140-firm coalition will face fragmented treatment across jurisdictions. A stablecoin backed by Visa and BlackRock will attract regulatory scrutiny in the US, EU, and Asia. The failure of Diem offers a cautionary tale: regulatory opposition can derail even well-capitalized initiatives. Open Standard will need explicit regulatory clarity before launch, and that approval is not guaranteed.

For the broader stablecoin market, Open USD represents both opportunity and threat. If it succeeds, it could reshape how cross-border payments work, reducing friction for businesses and potentially undercutting the fees charged by traditional remittance networks. If it stumbles on governance or regulatory hurdles, it signals that even institutional backing cannot overcome the structural challenges of building consensus-based financial infrastructure.

BlackRock's involvement suggests the asset manager sees stablecoins as essential infrastructure for digital finance. Ripple's participation ties Open USD to the cross-border payments market, where the firm has built significant traction with banks. Coinbase's commitment, despite building USDC with Circle, indicates the exchange sees value in a broader, more distributed stablecoin standard.

Open USD's real test comes in execution. The June 30 announcement establishes the vision; the launch later this year will reveal whether 140 firms can actually coordinate at scale. For now, the stablecoin market's two incumbents remain unchallenged. But the formation of this coalition signals that the era of single-issuer stablecoins may be ending.