Visa, Mastercard join 140 businesses to launch Open USD stablecoin

Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and more than 140 businesses have launched Open Standard, a new stablecoin consortium that plans to issue a U.S. dollar pegged token called Open USD later this year.

According to Open Standard, the initiative is designed to make stablecoin use easier for businesses by creating a network that is open, low cost and built for high transaction volumes. The group said Open USD will allow companies to mint and redeem the token without fees or volume limits, giving businesses a stablecoin structure that can support large scale payment and settlement activity.

The consortium brings together some of the largest names in payments and crypto at a time when stablecoins are drawing stronger attention from banks, fintech firms and policymakers. Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase are among the companies backing the venture, while Open Standard said the network already includes more than 140 participating businesses.

Open Standard founding CEO Zach Abrams said existing stablecoins have important strengths, but businesses need a token system that is open, broadly accessible and aligned with their commercial interests to use the technology at scale.

Under the model described by the company, earnings from the reserves backing Open USD will be shared with partners in the initiative after a management fee is deducted for operating costs. The structure gives network participants a direct economic interest in the stablecoin, while Open Standard described the governance model as neutral.

Stablecoin adoption still faces payment hurdles

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a fixed value and are commonly backed by assets such as the U.S. dollar or euro. Although they have become a key part of crypto market infrastructure, their use remains concentrated in crypto trading rather than everyday payments or business transfers.

Open Standard said its new token is intended to address the difficulties companies face when trying to expand stablecoin use across payment systems. BNY’s chief product and innovation officer, Carolyn Weinberg, said a stablecoin with neutral governance and shared economics could support the next stage of digital asset growth.

The launch follows growing regulatory and institutional activity around stablecoins. U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law last year, creating federal rules for stablecoins and providing a legal framework that experts at the time said could support their use in payments and money movement.

Visa has also been increasing its own stablecoin work. At Visa Payments Forum 2026 in June, the company said it was expanding stablecoin settlement pilots across regions, blockchains and currencies, while also working on a technology layer for tokenized deposits. Visa said its stablecoin settlement run rate had reached about $7 billion as of March 2026 and that more than 160 stablecoin linked card programs were live or in development.

Institutional interest has also grown outside the U.S. In January, a consortium of 10 European banks formed Qivalis to launch a euro pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval. The group, which includes BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, SEB and other banks, said the token would initially focus on crypto trading before expanding to other uses.

Some fintech and crypto firms had already taken a similar path in 2024 with the launch of the Global Dollar Network, another stablecoin network built around shared participation. Open Standard enters that market with a larger payments industry presence, as major card networks and crypto firms continue to test whether stablecoins can move beyond trading and become a regular settlement tool for businesses.