A coalition that includes global payments giants Visa and Mastercard, in partnership with cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, launched a new shared stablecoin on Tuesday — a strategic move aimed at boosting and broadening the adoption and use of digital tokens in traditional financial and commercial transactions worldwide.
The new project, named Open Standard, brings together more than 140 international companies and institutions under a single stablecoin network to issue a dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD, which is scheduled for official circulation later this year.
Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of the Open Standard network, commented on the motivation behind the launch, saying: "Existing stablecoins have great strengths and advantages, but for businesses and institutions to use them on a broad, global scale, they need an open system — low cost, high throughput and operability, widely available, and most importantly aligned with their investment and commercial interests."
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed specifically to maintain a fixed value by being backed and supported by assets and reserves in traditional fiat currencies such as the dollar or the euro.
The new network will allow partner companies and institutions to mint and redeem Open USD at no financial cost or fees, and without imposing any restrictions or maximum limits on transaction volumes — a structural feature designed specifically to help businesses scale and increase digital cash flow volumes.
In a move designed to attract investors, the alliance announced that returns and profits generated from managing the liquid assets and reserves backing the digital token's value will be shared and distributed among partner contributors to the initiative, after deducting a nominal technical management fee to cover the network's operational costs.
Although stablecoins are currently used mainly to facilitate trading and speculation in other crypto assets, and have not yet gained widespread adoption in settling everyday payments for goods and services, the entry of credit card giants is changing this dynamic. Caroline Weinberg, head of products and innovation at BNY, said: "A stablecoin with neutral governance and a shared economy represents a unique and innovative combination, and has the full capacity to unlock and inaugurate the next phase of institutional-level growth in digital assets."
This landmark launch comes at a time of a favorable legislative environment in the United States, after President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law last year, establishing the first clear and comprehensive federal rules and guidelines for regulating and managing stablecoins.
Credit experts and analysts confirmed that this US law — the first of its kind designed specifically to facilitate and accelerate the use of digital currencies in the financial system — paved the way and legally fortified digital assets to become an accepted everyday means of making payments and transferring money across borders safely.
This alliance is seen as an extension of earlier efforts by fintech and cryptocurrency companies to break the monopoly of traditional banks; a number of companies joined forces in 2024 to launch a similar global stablecoin network known as the Global Dollar Network.
However, the direct participation of Visa and Mastercard alongside Coinbase and Open Standard lends the new project broad operational momentum and commercial recognition, accelerating the integration of blockchain infrastructure into the heart of everyday financial transactions in the global economy.