A consortium inc1luding Visa and Mastercard, the world’s two largest payment processing networks, and crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a new joint stablecoin in a bid to broaden the adoption of digital tokens.
The venture, called “Open Standard,” brings together more than 140 businesses for the stablecoin network. The entity will issue a new US-dollar-pegged stablecoin called “Open USD,” which is expected to go live later in 2026.
“It is aimed at accelerating the usage of the digital tokens worldwide by addressing hurdles that businesses face in scaling stablecoin adoption,” Open Standard said.
“Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests. It will let businesses mint and redeem Open USD without any cost and limits on volumes to help them build for scale. Earnings from Open USD’s reserves backing the digital token will also be shared among the initiative’s partners, minus a management fee to cover operational costs,” Open Standard founding CEO Zach Abrams said.
Stablecoins, digital tokens designed to keep a constant value and backed by traditional currencies like the US dollar or euro, have become popular in the American policy circles. In 2025, President Donald Trump, immediately after beginning his second stint, signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting federal rules and guidelines for the virtual currency’s operations.
This American law, the first designed to facilitate crypto usage, was envisioned to pave the way for digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money. Still, stablecoins are mostly used to facilitate trading in other crypto tokens and are still not widely used to send or receive payments.
“A stablecoin with neutral governance and shared economics is a unique combination that has the potential to unlock the next phase of digital assets’ growth,” BNY chief product and innovation officer Carolyn Weinberg said while interacting with Reuters.
Some fintech and crypto firms had also come together in 2024 to launch a global stablecoin network called “Global Dollar Network.”