Circle just watched more than 140 of the biggest names in finance and tech announce they’re coming for its lunch. CEO Jeremy Allaire’s response: we’ve seen this movie before, and the sequel usually disappoints.
The Open Standard initiative, unveiled on June 30, brings together Coinbase, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, and over 135 other companies to launch Open USD, a new dollar-pegged stablecoin with zero minting and redemption fees. The consortium plans to share reserve earnings among its partners rather than funneling them to a single issuer. Wall Street’s immediate verdict on Circle was brutal: shares of CRCL dropped roughly 16% to 18% on the day.
What Allaire actually said
Allaire didn’t dismiss the threat outright. He acknowledged the OUSD announcement but pivoted hard to what he sees as USDC’s structural advantages: regulatory compliance, deep integrations, and the kind of network effects that take years to build.
Allaire also emphasized that Circle’s partnership with Coinbase remains strong. That’s a notable point given that Coinbase is simultaneously listed as one of the 140-plus backers of the Open Standard consortium. Coinbase appears to be hedging, keeping a foot in both camps rather than choosing sides.
