Consortium Launches Dollar-Backed Stablecoin to Speed Global Adoption

A consortium of over 140 businesses has launched Open USD, a dollar-backed stablecoin designed for widespread use. The project, called Open Standard, is led by payment giants Visa and Mastercard, as well as crypto exchange Coinbase.

The new stablecoin is pegged to the US dollar and will allow businesses to mint and redeem it with no fees or volume limits. In a reversal of the traditional stablecoin model, most of the income earned on Open USD's reserves will flow back to participating businesses after a management fee.

The project aims to speed up global adoption of stablecoins, which are meant to hold steady like the dollar but have been primarily used for trading cryptocurrency rather than making everyday purchases. To achieve this goal, Open Standard has adopted a collective governance model, where decision-making is shared among partner firms and an independent company.