Circle (CRCL) slides as Stripe, Coinbase (COIN) and BlackRock (BLK) back rival stablecoin network

With more institutions embracing stablecoins, the competition is increasingly shifting from issuing tokens to determining who controls the underlying infrastructure and network.

Unlike most existing stablecoins, Open USD will allow businesses to mint and redeem tokens without fees while returning reserve income to participating partners, less a management fee. Governance will also be shared among members rather than controlled by a single issuer.

The model targets one of the core economics of today’s stablecoin market. Issuers such as Circle earn revenue by investing reserves backing their tokens in short-term U.S. Treasuries and retaining most of the interest generated by those assets. Open USD instead plans to distribute that yield to participating businesses.

The approach resembles the Global Dollar Network (USDG), a stablecoin consortium led by Paxos that shares reserve income with participating firms. That network is backed by companies including Robinhood, Kraken and Galaxy Digital, and was designed to encourage broader adoption by aligning incentives between the issuer and distribution partners.

In Europe, a group of banks and payment providers launched Qivalis, a venture to develop a euro-denominated stablecoin as financial institutions seek to build shared digital payment infrastructure.

The breadth of Open USD’s backing reflects that shift. Beyond Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard and Visa, launch partners include BNY, Standard Chartered, DBS, U.S. Bank, Shopify, Google, IBM, Mercado Pago, Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, MetaMask, Aave, Solana, Polygon and Ripple.