Twenty-one banks and asset managers said Tuesday they will set up a jointly backed company in the second half of this year to issue a US dollar stablecoin, aiming for a market launch in the first half of 2027 and later expansion into other G7 currencies, starting with the euro.
Almost eleven months after ten of the same institutions said they were studying the idea, the group has produced a target date and a longer member list and little else. The release names no chief executive, no ownership split, no company name, no blockchain, no custodian and no reserve manager, and carries no quotes from any of the 21 participants.
The venture would enter a market where two issuers control four-fifths of the supply. Circulating stablecoins stand at $310.4 billion, according to DefiLlama, with Tether's USDT at $183.3 billion, or 59%, and Circle's USDC at $73.8 billion, or 24%. Total supply is up 9.9% from $282.4 billion a year ago and down from a June 1 high of $317.4 billion.
The group builds on an Oct. 10, 2025 announcement in which ten banks said they were exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money for public blockchains, focused on G7 currencies. Eight of those ten are in Tuesday's list: Banco Santander, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank Group and UBS.
