Open USD & the Repricing of Stablecoin Economics

The consortium behind Open USD is not competing on demand. It is competing on who keeps the reserve income.

On 30 June, more than 140 firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, Google, BNY and Coinbase announced Open USD, a dollar stablecoin governed by a new entity called Open Standard.1 Circle fell 17.5% to $62.63 that day, though removal from five Russell growth indexes the same week added mechanical selling.2

The model matters more than the launch. OUSD is not live, is due in H2 2026 natively on Ethereum, Solana and Tempo, and its reserve composition, custodian and management fee are all unconfirmed.1,3 Incumbent issuers keep reserve income. OUSD would pass it to distribution partners, net of a management fee, with no minting fees and no volume caps.1 That would take what Circle pays Coinbase as a negotiated cost and make it the sector default.

Where the economics sit

Reserve income was 94% of Circle’s Q1 2026 total revenue and reserve income.4 Circle paid Coinbase $907.9M in 2024, roughly 54% of that year’s revenue, under an agreement effective 18 August 2023 whose initial three-year term closes this month. Renewal is automatic for a further three years if performance thresholds are met and the parties cannot agree on modifications, so a lapse is unlikely, but Coinbase now sits on both sides of the argument.5