Open Standard Enters Stablecoin Market with Open USD
A new stablecoin issuer, Open Standard, has launched its Open USD (OUSD) token on four blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. The move is seen as a challenge to market leaders Tether and Circle in the $300 billion digital dollar market.
Open Standard's five founding partners - Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa - each hold an equal initial equity stake in the company and have committed over $1 billion to build out OUSD liquidity. The equity will be distributed among the partners based on their growth of OUSD supply and transaction activity over the next 4-5 years.
Unlike Tether and Circle, which retain a significant portion of interest earned on their reserve assets, Open Standard aims to distribute revenue-sharing arrangements at the core of its business model. The company's CEO, Zach Abrams, sees Open USD as a payments rail meant to disappear into everyday financial plumbing.