Aconsortium of more than 140 financial and technology companies, among them Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Coinbase, launched a new dollar-pegged stablecoin on Tuesday called Open USD.
The venture, run by an independent company named Open Standard, is a direct swipe at the economics that have made Circle and Tether the dominant issuers in the sector.
Open USD, which trades under the ticker OUSD, is designed so that businesses can mint and redeem the token at no cost and with no caps on volume.
The bigger departure sits in the reserves. Nearly all of the interest earned on the assets backing OUSD will flow to partners after a management fee, rather than to a single issuer.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!That structure attacks the core of the incumbent model. Reserve income, the interest banks pay on the cash and Treasuries held against a stablecoin, generated the overwhelming majority of Circle’s revenue last year.
