TL;DR：· Open Standard 宣布推出美元稳定币 Open USD (OUSD)。据路透社报道，该项目汇聚了 140 多家公司，包括 Visa、Mastercard 和 Coinbase 等支付、金融、技术和加密货币公司。 Open USD目前仍处于公告阶段，预计今年晚些时候正式推出。 · Open USD的核心设计包括零费用铸造和赎回、无发行上限、与合作伙伴共享储备收益以及中立治理。这一模式与 Circle 的商业模式形成鲜明对比，后者严重依赖 USDC 储备资产产生的收入。 · Open USD 公告发布后，CRCL 美国当地时间 6 月 30 日收盘于 62.63 美元，当日下跌约 17.52%。市场关注的焦点是 Open USD 是否会削弱 USDC 的分销优势，并将稳定币经济从发行者转移到支付网络、交易所、钱包和商业平台等分销商。 · 市场观点仍然存在分歧。一些人认为 Open USD 的机构阵容和收益分享机制可能会给 Circle 带来压力。其他人则认为，财团支持的稳定币仍面临流动性冷启动、资金不足等挑战。
交易对、治理效率和现实世界采用率等问题，使其短期内难以直接挑战 USDC 和 USDT。 Open Standard 宣布开放 USD 北京时间 6 月 30 日晚，Open Standard 宣布推出美元稳定币 Open USD（OUSD）。路透社报道称，Open Standard 汇集了 140 多家公司，将发行与美元挂钩的稳定币 Open USD。该稳定币目前仍处于公告阶段，预计今年晚些时候正式推出。Open Standard创始人兼首席执行官Zach Abrams表示，现有的稳定币有其优势，但企业要大规模使用稳定币，需要一种开放、低成本、高吞吐量、广泛可访问且符合自身需求的产品。
TL;DR:
· Open Standard announced the launch of Open USD (OUSD), a U.S. dollar stablecoin. According to Reuters, the project brings together more than 140 companies, including payment, financial, technology and crypto firms such as Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase. Open USD is still at the announcement stage, with the official launch expected later this year.
· Open USD’s core design includes zero-fee minting and redemption, no issuance cap, reserve income sharing with partners, and neutral governance. This model contrasts with Circle’s business model, which relies heavily on income generated from USDC reserve assets.
· Following the Open USD announcement, CRCL closed at $62.63 on June 30 U.S. local time, down about 17.52% for the day. The market is focused on whether Open USD could weaken USDC’s distribution advantage and shift stablecoin economics from issuers to distributors such as payment networks, exchanges, wallets and merchant platforms.
· Market views remain divided. Some believe Open USD’s institutional lineup and revenue-sharing mechanism could put pressure on Circle. Others argue that consortium-backed stablecoins still face challenges including liquidity cold starts, insufficient trading pairs, governance efficiency and real-world adoption, making it difficult for them to directly challenge USDC and USDT in the short term.
Open Standard Announces Open USD
On the evening of June 30 Beijing time, Open Standard announced the launch of Open USD (OUSD), a U.S. dollar stablecoin. Reuters reported that Open Standard brings together more than 140 companies and will issue Open USD, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. The stablecoin is still at the announcement stage, with the official launch expected later this year.
Open Standard founder and CEO Zach Abrams said that existing stablecoins have their advantages, but for enterprises to use stablecoins at scale, they need a product that is open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible and aligned with their own interests. Reuters reported that Open USD will allow enterprises to mint and redeem at no cost, without issuance caps, and that income generated from Open USD’s reserve assets will be shared with participants after management fees are deducted.
Participants Span Payments, Banking, Technology and Crypto
The participants disclosed by Open Standard cover payments, fintech, traditional finance, technology, e-commerce and crypto. Reuters reported that the consortium includes companies such as Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase. CoinDesk reported that Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa and BlackRock are among the project’s launch partners.
The Wall Street Journal reported that companies including BlackRock, Google, Coinbase, Visa, Stripe and Mastercard are involved, and that Open USD plans to be available on Base, Solana and other networks. It is important to note that being listed as a participant does not mean that product integration has already been completed. A more cautious way to describe the situation is that these institutions have joined the Open Standard or Open USD ecosystem and may cooperate in areas such as stablecoin issuance, payments, settlement, merchant services, trading and on-chain applications in the future.
Open USD’s Core Mechanisms: Zero Fees, Revenue Sharing and Consortium Governance
The first core mechanism of Open USD is zero-fee minting and redemption. Reuters reported that Open USD will allow enterprises to mint and redeem at no cost and without issuance caps. This design is mainly aimed at enterprise payment, settlement and treasury management use cases.
The second mechanism is reserve income sharing. Reuters reported that income generated from Open USD’s reserve assets will be shared with participants after management fees are deducted. CoinDesk also reported that Open Standard’s Open USD allows partners to retain reserve income and removes minting fees, a design that challenges Circle’s USDC model.
The third mechanism is consortium governance. Reuters reported that Open Standard hopes to expand stablecoin usage through openness, low costs and neutral governance. For payment companies, exchanges, banks, e-commerce platforms and on-chain applications, this means they may not only be users of the stablecoin, but also participants in its economics and governance.
Why Could Open USD Put Pressure on Circle?
After Open USD was announced, the market’s attention quickly turned to Circle. The reason is that Circle is the issuer of USDC, one of the most important U.S. dollar stablecoins in the market. Reserve income accounts for a very high share of Circle’s revenue structure. Open USD’s revenue-sharing model directly touches Circle’s core source of income.
Circle’s first-quarter 2026 financial results showed that USDC in circulation stood at $77 billion at the end of the quarter, up 28% year-on-year. USDC’s on-chain transaction volume in the first quarter reached $21.5 trillion, up 263% year-on-year. During the same quarter, Circle’s total revenue and reserve income reached $694 million, up 20% year-on-year, while reserve income was $653 million, up 17% year-on-year. Circle also disclosed that total distribution, transaction and other costs reached $407 million in the quarter, up 17% year-on-year, mainly due to higher distribution payments.
These figures show that Circle’s revenue is closely tied to USDC circulation and the income generated by reserve assets. If Open USD allocates more reserve income to partners, the market may reassess how stablecoin economics are distributed across the industry. For investors, the key question is not whether Open USD will replace USDC in the short term, but whether stablecoin reserve income will shift from issuers to payment networks, exchanges, wallets, e-commerce platforms and other distribution channels.
CoinDesk reported that Open USD’s threat to Circle lies in its challenge to Circle’s business model. According to CoinDesk, Circle mainly relies on retaining interest income from USDC reserve assets, while Open USD plans to distribute that income to partners. CoinDesk also cited Dragonfly general partner Rob Hadick as saying that Open USD’s partner list points to a real threat to Circle’s business.
CRCL Falls 17.52% in One Day
Following the Open USD announcement, Circle’s share price fell sharply. Market data showed that Circle Internet Group (CRCL) closed at $62.63 on June 30 U.S. local time, down about 17.52% from the previous trading day.
The Block reported that Circle’s shares fell more than 16% after the Open USD announcement. The report said investors were assessing the potential competitive pressure that Open USD could bring to USDC. The Block also cited William Blair analysts as saying that market concerns over Open USD may be overstated, and that Circle’s first-mover advantage, liquidity and payment infrastructure still leave it in a strong position.
CoinDesk also reported that the emergence of Open USD will intensify market scrutiny of Circle’s economic model and its relationship with Coinbase. It also shows that stablecoin competition is shifting toward distribution platforms such as exchanges, payment processors and wallets. In addition to business competition concerns triggered by Open USD, some reports also mentioned that index adjustments may have affected short-term trading in CRCL. However, based on reports from Reuters, CoinDesk and The Block, Open USD remained one of the main market narratives of the day.
Coinbase’s Role Draws Attention
Coinbase’s presence on Open USD’s participant list has also attracted market attention. Coinbase has long been an important USDC partner and distribution channel. CoinDesk reported that Circle and Coinbase previously co-founded the Centre Consortium to promote the issuance of USDC and share economic benefits related to USDC reserve income under commercial agreements. With Coinbase also appearing on the Open USD partner list, the market has started to take another look at the relationship between Circle and Coinbase.
However, Coinbase’s participation in Open Standard should not be directly interpreted as “abandoning USDC.” A more cautious interpretation is that Coinbase is also participating in the Open USD ecosystem, which means it may offer customers more stablecoin infrastructure options in the future. For Circle, Coinbase matters because of its role in distribution and liquidity. If Coinbase supports more U.S. dollar stablecoins in the future, or if economic interests are reallocated under partnership agreements, USDC’s default distribution advantage may be reassessed by the market.
Circle Responds to Stablecoin Competition
After the Open USD announcement, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire responded to stablecoin competition. The Block reported that Allaire said Circle welcomes competition and will continue to expand the USDC ecosystem. The Block also said Allaire stated that Circle will continue investing in partnerships with banks, payment companies, capital markets institutions and enterprises, while giving partners more ways to become economic stakeholders in the growth of the USDC network.
This response suggests that Circle does not view Open USD as an immediate direct threat, but instead places it within the broader context of stablecoin industry expansion and intensifying competition. Allaire’s remarks about allowing partners to participate more broadly in the economics of USDC network growth also show that partner incentives have become an important variable in stablecoin competition.
Market Views Remain Divided
Those who see Open USD as a threat argue that the project has a strong group of partners and that its revenue-sharing mechanism directly touches Circle’s revenue model. Reuters reported that Open Standard brings together more than 140 companies. CoinDesk said Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa and BlackRock are among the project’s launch partners. Circle’s official financial results show that Circle’s Q1 reserve income was $653 million, compared with total revenue and reserve income of $694 million.
However, others argue that the emergence of Open USD does not mean USDC is losing ground. Some discussions in the Chinese-speaking market have noted that stablecoins are not simply about issuing a token. They require long-term liquidity, trading use cases, user mindshare and distribution channels. In the past, multiple exchanges and financial institutions have launched different stablecoins, but the only ones that have truly reached scale remain mainly USDT and USDC. Even with a strong partner list, Open USD still needs to prove that it can build trading depth, payment use cases and sustained demand.
The Block cited William Blair analysts Andrew Jeffrey and Adib Choudhury as saying that market concerns over Open USD are overstated. The two analysts said that competition in the stablecoin market is inevitable and also validates the potential of the sector. However, USDC still has a large market capitalization, deep liquidity and payment infrastructure such as Circle Payments Network, making Circle’s model difficult for new entrants to replicate.
ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente also expressed skepticism toward Open USD. He argued that consortium-style stablecoins first face the challenge of a liquidity cold start, making it difficult to quickly build trading depth close to that of USDC and USDT. They also lack a large number of trading pairs with the existing mainstream crypto market. Valente also believes that consortium governance could affect decision-making efficiency. If participants are both partners and competitors, the project may be less flexible than single-decision-maker entities such as Circle and Tether when it comes to incentive distribution, product adjustments and market response.
Another area of debate in the Chinese-speaking market centers on Circle’s own moat. Some argue that Circle should not be simply compared with Visa or Mastercard, whose core revenue comes from payment networks and transaction rails, while Circle’s main revenue comes from income generated by USDC reserve assets. Others argue that the truly difficult part of building a stablecoin business is not just issuance, but acceptance, clearing, payment networks and financial channels. Banks and payment companies have natural advantages in enterprise accounts, cross-border settlement, merchant networks and U.S. dollar on- and off-ramps. Another view is that CRCL’s sharp decline and the participation of more than 100 institutions in a stablecoin project show that the stablecoin sector may be reshaped over the long term by regulation and traditional finance. The future stablecoin landscape will be determined not only by issuance scale, but also by regulation, use cases and demand from within the crypto ecosystem.
Real Adoption Still Needs to Be Watched
Open USD still has several key details that have not been fully disclosed. Reuters reported that Open USD is expected to launch later this year. The Wall Street Journal reported that Open USD plans to be available on Base, Solana and other networks. However, key issues still need to be clarified, including the issuing entity, compliance framework, reserve custody arrangements, redemption process, revenue-sharing rules, governance weights and how partners will integrate Open USD into their own products.
For stablecoins, a partner list is only the first step. Whether a stablecoin can reach scale depends not only on whether major companies are backing it, but also on whether it can secure sufficient exchange liquidity, wallet support, merchant settlement use cases, DeFi integrations, cross-border payment demand and regulatory recognition. USDC and USDT’s advantages come from years of accumulated liquidity, trading pairs, user habits and institutional use cases. Open USD will need to prove itself gradually across all of these areas.
CRCL’s decline on June 30 should not be simply interpreted as the market concluding that USDC will be replaced by Open USD. A more accurate reading is that Open USD has brought Circle’s core business model back under market scrutiny. Going forward, investors will need to watch Open USD’s issuance scale, redemption efficiency, exchange liquidity, merchant integrations and on-chain usage after its launch later this year, as well as whether USDC’s distribution channels and institutional adoption are affected.
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