Key Takeaways
- Circle (CRCL) shares plummeted over 13% to approximately $65, reaching their lowest point in four months following the rival stablecoin announcement.
- More than 140 major corporations, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, have unveiled Open USD, a new stablecoin project.
- Open Standard, the organization managing Open USD, is headed by Zach Abrams, who previously co-founded Bridge before its acquisition by Stripe in 2024.
- Open USD distinguishes itself from Circle’s USDC by offering zero-fee minting and redemption, plus shared reserve income distribution among consortium members.
- Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire dismissed concerns about the competition, asserting that USDC maintains its position as the most reliable stablecoin in the market.
Shares of Circle Internet Group experienced a significant decline on Tuesday. The stock plummeted as much as 14% during trading before closing down approximately 13%, hovering around $65—marking its weakest performance since the end of February.
The sharp decline came after news emerged that a consortium exceeding 140 corporations intends to introduce a rival stablecoin. This new digital asset, dubbed Open USD, represents a direct challenge to Circle’s flagship USDC token.
Coinbase shares also experienced downward pressure from the announcement, declining roughly 6% to $142.37. This decline carries particular significance given that Coinbase partnered with Circle to create USDC and has historically shared in its revenue stream.
The Consortium Behind Open USD
The alliance backing this initiative includes an impressive roster of industry leaders. Among the founding partners are payment giants Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe, alongside financial powerhouses BlackRock and Coinbase, plus banking institutions including BNY, Standard Chartered, and U.S. Bank.
Major technology corporations have also joined the effort. Google and IBM are both participants, along with prominent blockchain projects such as Ripple, Solana, Polygon, and Aave.
An independent entity named Open Standard oversees the project. Zach Abrams serves as its leader, bringing experience from co-founding Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company that Stripe purchased in 2024.
Abrams positioned the initiative as addressing market needs, stating that while current stablecoins have merits, the business community requires a solution that’s open, affordable, and structured to serve their interests at enterprise scale.
Industry observers weren’t completely caught off guard. CoinDesk had previously reported earlier this month that Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard were developing a competing stablecoin platform, with indications that Coinbase might participate.
Open USD’s Competitive Advantages Over USDC
The economic model represents the most significant challenge to Circle’s revenue stream. Open USD will allow businesses to create and redeem tokens without any associated fees.
The distribution of reserve income follows a similar collaborative approach. Rather than concentrating interest earnings from reserves within a single entity, Open USD intends to distribute yields among all participating partners following operational expense deductions.
This directly threatens Circle’s primary revenue source. Circle generates income by investing USDC reserves in short-duration Treasury securities and retaining the majority of interest generated—a model that Open USD explicitly aims to disrupt.
Governance authority will be distributed among consortium members instead of residing with a sole issuer. This approach resembles USDG, another consortium-based stablecoin supported by Paxos, Robinhood, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital.
USDC presently maintains approximately $73.6 billion in circulation, positioning it as the dominant U.S.-originated stablecoin. Tether’s USDT holds a larger global presence with roughly $145 billion in circulation, though it focuses primarily on cryptocurrency trading and developing economies.
The implications for Coinbase are substantial. Revenue connected to USDC accounted for 44% of Coinbase’s subscription and services division during the first quarter.
Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire took to X on Tuesday to defend his company’s position, characterizing USDC as “the most trusted, widely adopted, institutional-ready stablecoin in the world.” He emphasized that Circle collaborates with thousands of institutional partners.
A Coinbase representative maintained an optimistic perspective, suggesting that additional stablecoin issuers and applications ultimately expand the total addressable market, while affirming that USDC continues to be central to their platform strategy.
According to Open Standard’s official statement, Open USD is scheduled to debut later this year.
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