Visa, BlackRock, Coinbase Join Open Standard OUSD Stablecoin

Open Standard announced its new stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD), on June 30, 2026, backed by more than 140 businesses including Visa, BlackRock, and Coinbase. The initiative positions itself as shared infrastructure for enterprise payments, offering free minting and redemption with no volume caps.

What the OUSD Announcement Confirms

Open Standard described OUSD as a stablecoin designed for global money movement. Businesses can mint and redeem OUSD at no cost and with no artificial limits on volume, according to the company’s launch post. For related coverage, see Visa Expands USDC Settlement in the U.S..

Partners will receive reserve earnings less a small management fee. Governance will sit with an independent company overseen by a partner board, separating operational control from the issuing entity. For related coverage, see KB Kookmin Card Innovates with Stablecoin Integration.

The launch consortium includes Visa, which has been expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities, alongside BlackRock and Coinbase. Crypto Briefing independently confirmed that more than 140 companies, also including Stripe, Google, and DBS, are backing the effort.

OUSD will go live later in 2026, though the announcement did not specify an exact launch date. The fetched official materials also do not yet detail reserve composition, issuer licensing, or specific blockchain networks for deployment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, OUSD is slated to launch on Base, Solana, and other networks, though this has not been confirmed in Open Standard’s own published materials.

Why Visa, BlackRock, and Coinbase Matter for OUSD

The partner roster combines three distinct pillars of financial infrastructure. Visa processes payments across more than 200 countries. Jack Forestell, a Visa executive, stated: “Visa is bringing the same discipline, risk standards, and operational rigor we apply to our global network to Open USD.”

“Visa is bringing the same discipline, risk standards, and operational rigor we apply to our global network to Open USD.”
— Jack Forestell, Visa (source)

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, noted that Open USD gives businesses more choice in how they access tokenized value and internet-native rails. Coinbase, which has been actively expanding its stablecoin infrastructure, adds exchange distribution and its Base layer-2 network as a potential deployment chain.

The revenue-sharing model differentiates OUSD from incumbent stablecoins. USDC, the dominant dollar stablecoin, currently holds a market cap of roughly $73.54 billion with daily trading volume exceeding $14 billion. Circle, USDC’s issuer, retains the vast majority of reserve yield.

Open Standard’s model distributes reserve earnings back to partners, creating a direct financial incentive for businesses to hold and circulate OUSD rather than competing alternatives. The total stablecoin market currently sits at roughly $311.4 billion, giving OUSD a large addressable pool if adoption materializes.

The announcement arrives as Visa has been expanding USDC settlement in the U.S. and partnering with firms like Aquanow on stablecoin payments. That Visa is now also backing a competing stablecoin suggests the payments giant views the market as large enough to support multiple instruments.

Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network, already holds roughly $4.8 billion in stablecoin supply, providing an existing liquidity base if OUSD launches there as reported. However, Open Standard has not yet published reserve custody details, issuer-entity licensing, or a formal chain-launch document, leaving key operational questions unanswered ahead of the planned 2026 launch.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.