Visa, Stripe, Coinbase and 140+ Firms Unite Behind Open USD Stablecoin Initiative

More than 140 companies across finance, technology and crypto are joining forces to support the launch of Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin project aimed at creating a shared digital payment asset for businesses worldwide.

The initiative, led by Open Standard, brings together major players including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock and Coinbase, with the goal of building an open stablecoin ecosystem where participating companies can mint and redeem OUSD without fees or transaction limits.

Unlike traditional stablecoins where reserve income generally benefits the issuer, Open USD is designed to distribute most of the revenue generated from its reserves among participating businesses, while a small management fee will be retained to operate the system.

According to Open Standard, companies integrating OUSD into their platforms will gain access to technical support, payment infrastructure and potential revenue opportunities tied to the stablecoin’s adoption. The stablecoin is expected to launch later this year.

The project will be governed through an independent organization with decision-making shared among partner companies, rather than being controlled by a single issuer. Open Standard said the structure is intended to create a more neutral and widely adopted stablecoin network.

The group behind OUSD includes a broad mix of financial institutions, payment providers and technology companies. Participants include American Express, Discover Financial Services, BNY Mellon, Standard Chartered, Google, Shopify, IBM, Ripple, OKX, MetaMask and Galaxy Digital.

Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, highlighted the partnership as an effort to create a shared stablecoin designed for global financial use.

Executives from other companies also pointed to interoperability as a key factor in expanding stablecoin adoption. Mastercard’s chief product officer Jorn Lambert said shared infrastructure could help bring stablecoins deeper into mainstream finance, while Will Gaybrick said OUSD aims to become a default stablecoin option for businesses using Stripe’s ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Tempo CEO Matt Huang said Open USD would be issued natively on the network from launch, supporting payments, liquidity, exchanges and decentralized finance applications.

Open Standard has yet to confirm whether Tempo will serve as the exclusive network for OUSD’s initial issuance, but the project signals a growing push among major financial and technology firms to build shared stablecoin infrastructure for global payments.