Faro, the Bank Backed G7 Stablecoin Venture, Takes On Tether and Circle

A group of major banks is lining up money to keep its new stablecoin company running for five years, reports. The plan is to issue tokens tied to every G7 currency, starting with a dollar version and adding a euro one afterward. Faro was first unveiled in September, and sources say it is likely to be incorporated in the US, though few details are confirmed. Members include Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Santander, Deutsche Bank and BBVA.

Banks Hedge Their Bets Across Rival Projects

Several Faro members also sit in competing efforts. BBVA is involved with Open USD, the Stripe-led project backed by Visa, and with Qivalis. Rabobank joined Qivalis in May, when that euro consortium grew to 37 banks, and BNP Paribas helped explore what became Faro in October 2025 before moving to Qivalis. Qivalis won Dutch central bank approval as an electronic money institution in October and is preparing a regulated euro coin for payments, cross-border settlement and tokenized assets. Spreading across projects lets banks test different models while keeping a stake in future payment rails.

Faro Versus USDT and USDC in a $290 Billion Market

Tether and Circle control about 85% of the stablecoin market, which DefiLlama puts near $290 billion as of Nov. 10. USDT has roughly $176.3 billion in market cap and USDC about $70.4 billion.

Distribution Could Be the Banks’ Edge

Faro’s backers already have customers, payment networks and business relationships, which could help them reach new users, including retail. Open USD is taking a similar route with payment firms, banks, fintechs and merchants. The real test for both will be turning that existing infrastructure into a competitive onchain payment network.