140 Firms Including Coinbase and Ripple Launch the New Open USD Stablecoin

by Gavin Gill


Key Takeaways

Open Standard, the independent company set up to run the project, announced Open USD on Tuesday. The coin is designed for businesses that move large volumes of dollars and need a cheaper way to mint and redeem stablecoins at scale.

No Fees, No Limits

Open Standard built Open USD around three rules. Businesses can mint and redeem the coin at no cost and without volume caps. Partners keep the earnings generated by the reserves backing the coin, minus a small fee that covers operating costs. A board made up of Open USD partners governs the project, rather than a single company.

Zach Abrams, founding CEO of Open Standard, said the goal was to give businesses an option built for scale.

Abrams remarked:

“It’s a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.”

Banks and Payment Networks Sign On

The partner list spans payment networks, banks, and crypto firms. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Stripe are involved on the payments side. Blackrock, BNY, Standard Chartered, and U.S. Bank represent traditional finance (TradFi). Coinbase, Ripple, Solana, OKX, and Crypto.com bring crypto and blockchain infrastructure into the mix.

Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, said the company is applying its existing risk standards to the new coin.

“Visa is bringing the same discipline, risk standards and operational rigor we apply to our global network to Open USD,” Forestell explained.

Blackrock‘s global head of market development, Samara Cohen, pointed to the size of the opportunity ahead. The firm expects the stablecoin market to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.

What This Means for Crypto Firms

Coinbase, one of the largest U.S. crypto exchanges, joined the launch alongside wallet and custody providers including Fireblocks, Metamask, Anchorage Digital, and Ledger. Shan Aggarwal, Coinbase’s chief business officer, stressed that stablecoins are now central to the company’s strategy.

Stablecoins are the most important thing happening in payments right now,” Aggarwal detailed on Tuesday.

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said his firm already settles a meaningful share of global stablecoin volume for banks and payment processors, and described joining Open Standard as a sign that the industry is consolidating around shared infrastructure instead of building competing systems in isolation.

Stripe plans to make Open USD the default stablecoin across its platform. Will Gaybrick, Stripe’s president of technology and business, framed the move as a long-term bet on where commerce is headed, saying the company built for the scale of the 2040 economy rather than the current one.

Doordash also joined the partner group, citing faster access to earnings for delivery workers and merchants as a driver behind its participation. Andy Fang, Doordash’s co-founder, said the company has seen firsthand how much faster, cheaper access to earnings matters for Dashers and merchants operating outside the United States.

Remittance firms also signed on. Manuel Godoy, CEO of Félix, said customers care more about getting local currency quickly and at a fair price than about which rail moves the money behind the scenes.

What Comes Next

Open Standard said Open USD will go live later this year. The company is still inviting additional businesses to join as partners ahead of launch.

For traders watching the stablecoin sector, the size of the partner list stands out. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and Blackrock rarely back the same project at once. Their combined involvement signals that major payment and finance players see stablecoins as core infrastructure rather than a niche crypto product.

Open USD does not yet have published figures for total reserves or expected transaction volume. Open Standard has not said which blockchain networks will support the coin at launch.



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