New Stablecoin Era
Open USD Launches with Major Backers, Aiming to Reshape Stablecoin Market
Key Points
Open USD launch triggered a sharp reaction in Circle's stock, with CRCL falling about 13% on the news as investors digested a governance-driven stablecoin backed by a broad coalition that includes Google alongside Visa and Coinbase.
Open USD reserves are planned to be held at major financial institutions, with income from those reserves shared among participating entities, and governance handled by an independent, partner-led organization rather than a single issuer.
Fireblocks reports tangible adoption activity around Open USD, noting about $76 billion in B2B fiat-to-stablecoin payments and $13 billion in creator payouts in the last quarter, and highlighting that Fireblocks supports over 100 banks and 300 payment organizations.
Open USD gains broad industry backing with Visa joining Open Standard alongside Stripe, Mastercard and Coinbase, while comments from Visa and Mastercard executives emphasize interoperable infrastructure as central to bringing stablecoins into the financial system and Stripe signaling Open USD as a default for its business users.
In Europe, Coinbase and Spiko enable USDC and EURC payments for UCITS-regulated Treasury bill money market funds via Base, allowing weekend and holiday fund subscriptions and reducing dependence on traditional banking hours for corporate treasury operations.
A coalition of more than 140 financial giants launched Open USD (OUSD) on June 30, sending Circle's stock (CRCL) tumbling as much as 15% in a single morning. Fortune reported that Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, Coinbase, and Google Cloud are all founding partners of the new stablecoin, which aims to be free to mint and redeem while sharing reserve income with participating businesses.
The same day, Coinbase and European fintech Spiko announced a separate pilot allowing corporate clients to subscribe to regulated EU Treasury-bill funds using USDC and EURC around the clock — including weekends and bank holidays — via the Base blockchain network. Together, the two announcements mark a major push to embed stablecoins deep into mainstream institutional finance.
Circle Stock Craters as Open USD Rattles Investors
Circle shares fell from roughly $76.00 to about $65.84 in a single morning after the Open USD announcement, according to Barron's. Analysts at Mizuho noted that nearly 99% of Circle's revenue comes from reserve interest — the exact income stream Open USD plans to share with its 140-plus partners. That revenue threat explains why the market reacted so sharply.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire pushed back quickly. He said USDC remains "the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-grade stablecoin" and that Circle welcomes competition. But the numbers tell a harder story: Open USD's fee-free model and revenue-sharing design are a direct challenge to Circle's core business.
Who Controls Open USD and Where the Money Goes
Open USD is governed by an independent organization. No single company controls it. Zach Abrams, interim CEO and former co-founder of Stripe-acquired Bridge, said the goal is something "open, low-cost, and aligned" to businesses' interests. BlackRock manages the dollar reserves. Most of the yield from those reserves flows back to participating banks and payment companies after a small management fee.
That revenue-sharing model is the key draw. Previously, issuers like Tether and Circle kept most of the interest earned on billions in reserves. Open USD flips that, giving banks and payment service providers a direct cut. Headtopics reported that Stripe plans to make OUSD its default stablecoin for business users, while Mastercard's chief product officer called "interoperable infrastructure" central to mainstream adoption.
Fireblocks Data Shows Stablecoin Demand Already at Scale
Fireblocks, the key infrastructure partner behind Open USD's settlement rails, reported $76 billion in B2B fiat-to-stablecoin payments in just the last quarter. Creator and gig-worker payouts hit $13 billion in the same period. Fireblocks currently supports over 100 banks and 300 payment organizations, giving Open USD an immediate base of institutional plumbing to build on.
The coalition says same-day clearing through Open USD will cut collateral needs for issuing banks and speed up merchant payouts. BlackRock projects the overall stablecoin market will reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. Analysts at MIT called OUSD "neutral infrastructure" — comparing it to the SMTP standard that underlies email — with the regulatory backing that Facebook's failed Libra project never had.
Coinbase and Spiko Let European Funds Run 24/7 on Blockchain
While Open USD grabbed headlines, Coinbase and Spiko quietly solved a long-standing problem for European corporate treasuries. Their pilot lets eligible clients subscribe to or redeem shares in UCITS-regulated Treasury-bill funds using USDC or EURC on Base — at any hour, any day. UCITS funds saw €104 billion in net inflows in April 2026 alone, signaling the enormous pool of capital now within reach of stablecoin rails.
Traditional fund subscriptions are locked to banking hours, leaving corporate cash idle over weekends and holidays. The Coinbase-Spiko integration removes that constraint entirely. It is a narrow but concrete example of what stablecoin infrastructure can do when applied to a real, regulated financial product — and a sign that the stablecoin competition will be fought on the battlefield of 24/7 capital efficiency.
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