Stripe's $1.9 Trillion Network Powers Open Standard Stablecoin Ambitions

Open Standard, a new stablecoin backed by over 200 organizations, has launched with about $468 million in circulation and a distribution partnership with Stripe, one of the largest payment networks. The token, called Open USD (OUSD), is issued on Tempo, Base, Ethereum, and Solana, giving businesses multiple venues for payments, settlement, and treasury operations. Stripe said it will make OUSD available across parts of its payments stack, allowing businesses to hold the token through Stripe Treasury, send it through Global Payouts, accept it with Payments, and use it with stablecoin-backed card products.

Stripe's $1.9 trillion distribution engine is behind OUSD, and the current circulation of OUSD amounts to less than 0.3% of the monthly figure. This illustrates the scale of the network through which Stripe could distribute the token if businesses begin using it for payments and treasury activity. Patrick Collison, Stripe's co-founder and CEO, said Open Standard was designed so that most reserve yield flows back to participating partners rather than being retained by the stablecoin issuer.

The model gives payment companies and platforms an economic incentive to distribute the token. However, OUSD's roughly $468 million supply represents about 0.15% of the sector, leaving it far behind incumbents with deeper exchange liquidity, broader integrations, and established payment usage.

Open Standard has assembled more than 200 financial institutions, fintechs, banks, and businesses as partners, with Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and Shopify among its founders. The next test begins as Open Standard expands distribution beyond launch liquidity, with Coinbase starting to support the network on October 1 and additional Mastercard distribution through BVNK planned.