Circle slides 8% as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock back rival stablecoin network

Finance Circle slides 8% as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock back rival stablecoin network Open Standard's Open USD aims to let partners keep reserve income and eliminate minting fees, challenging Circle's USDC. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher Jun 30, 2026, 2:32 p.m. 3 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Circle Speaks at Hong Kong Fintech Week in 2024 (HK Fintech Week) Summary Show Circle shares fell as much as 8% after a consortium of more than 140 companies unveiled Open USD. Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa and BlackRock are among the project's launch partners. The new stablecoin will let partners retain reserve earnings, striking at one of the key economics of today's stablecoin issuers. Circle (CRCL) shares were lower by 8% in Tuesday morning trading after a consortium backed by some of the biggest names in payments, banking and crypto unveiled Open USD, a new stablecoin designed to challenge incumbents such as USDC. The new digital dollar is launched by Open Standard, an independent company whose founding partners include Stripe, Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa and BlackRock alongside more than 140 businesses spanning payments, banking, fintech and crypto. The initiative is led by Zach Abrams, co-founder of stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, which Stripe acquired in 2024. "Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests," he said. The announcement follows a CoinDesk report earlier this month that Stripe, Visa and Mastercard were among the companies backing a new stablecoin platform, with Coinbase also weighing participation. Stablecoin consortium The launch comes as stablecoins move further into mainstream finance. Once used primarily by crypto traders, dollar-pegged tokens are increasingly powering cross-border payments, merchant settlements and corporate treasury operations. The market has grown to more than $300 billion and Citi projected it to grow to $4 trillion by 2030, attracting banks, payment companies and fintech firms eager to issue their own digital dollars. 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. Growing competition for Circle For Circle, the announcement underscores how competition in stablecoins is evolving. USDC, with a market capitalization of roughly $73 billion, has positioned itself as the regulated stablecoin for institutions, building partnerships with banks, payment firms and asset managers while securing regulatory approvals in jurisdictions including the U.S. and European Union. By contrast, market leader Tether's USDT, with about $145 billion in circulation, has built its dominance largely through crypto trading and emerging-market payments. Open USD takes aim at a different part of Circle's strategy. Rather than competing solely on distribution, it offers banks, payment companies and fintechs a share of the interest income generated on U.S Treasuries in reserve, a revenue stream that has become central to the business. Latest Crypto News 1 MetaMask launches Money Account with stablecoin yield and spending in one wallet 33 minutes ago 2 Tokenized securities need competition, not gatekeepers 1 hour ago 3 Nasdaq expands distribution of its market data into blockchain infrastructure 1 hour ago 4 Bitcoin’s quiet $59,000-$60,000 range is starting to look dangerous 2 hours ago 5 New York Life's $800 billion asset manager makes tokenization debut with Centrifuge fund 3 hours ago 6 Bitcoin $4.4 billion supply overhang emerges as institutional demand wilts 3 hours ago 7 Bitcoin nears 2024 lows as options traders pay up for downside protection 3 hours ago 8 Strategy heads for 11th losing month in 12 as bitcoin weakness continues 3 hours ago 9 UK to lower stablecoin capital buffers, undercutting EU's MiCA requirements 4 hours ago 10 SEC wins $5.5 million default judgment over alleged fake crypto platform NanoBit 4 hours ago Latest Research Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. By CoinDesk Research 3 hours ago Commissioned by GenZcash Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. Why it matters : Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. View Full Report More From Finance New York Life's $800 billion asset manager makes tokenization debut with Centrifuge fund Securitize heads to NYSE debut after investors approve SPAC merger Bitcoin lending is entering a new institutional era, according to Silicon Valley Bank