Open USD Launches With a Stablecoin Model Built to Share Ownership With Partners

Open USD (OUSD), backed by Mastercard, Visa, Stripe and Coinbase, went live on Wednesday on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo. Open Standard CEO Zach Abrams, who co-founded Bridge before Stripe bought it for $1.1 billion in 2024, said the goal is to build money, not a fund. The coin targets banking, cross-border payments, card settlement, institutional trading and lending. It enters a market worth over $300 billion, led by Tether’s USDT at about $143 billion and Circle’s USDC at roughly $74 billion.

Open Standard Founding Partners and Governance

Who Owns and Runs It

Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa are the first five founding partners, each with an equal equity stake. Together they committed over $1 billion for OUSD liquidity. Abrams rejects the consortium label, saying management runs the company, and he expects 10 to 12 founders and a board. The partner network has passed 200 firms, including SBI Holdings, UBS and Jeeves.

Stablecoin Rewards Model: Equity for Usage

Issuers earn interest on reserves. Tether keeps most of it, while Circle shares a portion with partners such as Coinbase. At Open Standard, founders get no special revenue share. All partners earn rewards based on the OUSD supply they generate.