Stripe and Visa are teaming up with more than 100 other companies in a new coalition called Open Standard that wants to push a U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoin, Open USD, straight into everyday payments. The group plans to use the token to bring on‑chain money movement into the same flows businesses already rely on. Bridge co‑founder Zach Abrams is set to lead the effort on an interim basis, and the backers span banks, asset managers and Big Tech. The move is the latest attempt by established payments and finance players to turn programmable digital dollars into a routine part of mainstream commerce.
According to Bloomberg, the backers named in the coalition’s blog post include Bank of New York Mellon, BlackRock, Alphabet, Coinbase, Klarna and Chime. More than 100 companies have signed on, and partners aim to plug Open USD into existing card, treasury and on‑chain flows once the stablecoin goes live later this year.
Investing.com reported that Bridge co‑founder and CEO Zach Abrams will serve as Open Standard’s interim chief and that Circle Internet’s shares slipped about 5% after the news broke. The outlet also noted that many partners plan to embed Open USD into merchant acceptance products and treasury tools when the token launches.
Stripe and Visa Already Building the Rails
Stripe has been assembling a vertical stablecoin stack that includes the Tempo blockchain and the Machine Payments Protocol, and it has layered Bridge issuance tools on top to make programmable dollars easier for businesses to use, according to Stripe. Visa, for its part, has expanded its acceptance and developer tooling to handle stablecoin settlement and new machine‑payment standards, as outlined by Visa.
Why Big Companies Want a Shared Token
Supporters argue that a single, open‑standard token could cut friction and costs in cross‑border settlement, trim layers of bank and card fees, and make it easier for companies to automate treasury, payouts and merchant settlement. The work also lines up with efforts around agentic, machine‑to‑machine commerce, an architecture Stripe and its partners have been showcasing with Tempo and related standards, according to industry coverage. Ledger Insights has detailed the technical framing and partner lineup behind those demonstrations.
Where Open USD Would Fit in the Market
The current stablecoin landscape is highly concentrated. Tether and USDC together hold most of the circulating supply, so any newcomer has to secure serious distribution or guaranteed integration to matter at scale. Market trackers show total stablecoin supply sitting in the low‑to‑mid hundreds of billions this spring, with USDT and USDC making up the bulk of that float, a reminder of the liquidity wall Open USD will need to climb. Eco.com cites DeFiLlama snapshots and related market data for recent supply figures.
Regulatory and Legal Watch
Regulators are already circling. The U.S. Congress last year created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and agencies are now working through the implementation details. The Federal Reserve has floated identification and oversight concepts aimed specifically at payment stablecoin issuers. Bloomberg Law has reported on the latest regulatory activity and proposals.
The coalition’s pitch, an open, standards‑based dollar that multiple banks, card networks and platforms agree to accept, is meant to tackle both scale and regulatory comfort in one shot. If partners follow through and wire Open USD into card rails, treasury systems and on‑chain settlement, the token could speed up use cases that range from cheaper cross‑border payouts to automated agentic commerce.
The campaign also throws a spotlight on San Francisco’s role in this next phase of payments innovation. Stripe, one of the effort’s key backers, lists dual headquarters in San Francisco and Dublin and has been central to many of the standards and product bets feeding into Open Standard’s roadmap. Stripe highlights its product work and global footprint in its newsroom materials.
