Visa, Stripe and Mastercard-backed consortium launches OUSD stablecoin

A consortium backed by more than 100 companies, including Visa, Stripe and Mastercard, launched the U.S. dollar-pegged OUSD stablecoin on Wednesday. Open Standard issues OUSD, which is available to businesses and software developers. Visa, Stripe, Mastercard-owned BVNK and Coinbase provide initial access. The consortium and Shopify have committed to minting roughly $1 billion worth of OUSD to seed liquidity, Bloomberg reported. OUSD is live on four blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. Consortium members plan to integrate OUSD into their products. Open Standard CEO Zach Abrams said the project was designed to address limitations holding back wider stablecoin adoption. Abrams previously headed stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge before Stripe acquired it in 2025. The combination of payments networks, crypto infrastructure and commerce platforms could give OUSD a built-in distribution network. However, new stablecoins face a significant challenge in competing with Tether's USDT and USDC. USDT has roughly $184 billion in circulation. Stablecoins introduced by established payments companies such as PayPal remain considerably smaller. Open Standard's consortium model and distribution could give OUSD an advantage. Open Standard's initial announcement in June weighed on Circle shares amid concerns that stronger payments-industry competition could challenge USDC.