Open USD Launches but Fails EU MiCA Register Test

Open USD, a dollar stablecoin backed by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa, launched on September 30, 2026. The issuer, Bridge, is a subsidiary of Stripe's stablecoin issuer, and the token is pegged to the US dollar at $0.9995, according to CoinGecko.

However, on October 1, 2026, the token was not listed in the EU's MiCA register, which raises questions about its availability and usability in the European market.

The MiCA register lists authorized electronic money institutions and their notified tokens. Bridge is listed as an authorized issuer, but Open USD is not notified, meaning that it cannot be offered publicly or admitted to trading in the EU.

This distinction is crucial, as the authorisation attaches to the company, not the token. Bridge can issue several tokens, but for each one, it must notify and publish a white paper of its own.

The issuer, Bridge, has undertaken to publish monthly confirmations on the reserves backing the token, but this is only an attestation, not a full audit. The economics of Open USD are unusual, with the income from the reserves going to participating companies, measured by circulation and not to holders.