TLDR
- Visa CEO Ryan McInerney says the company will stay “multi-coin, multi-chain” and won’t back one stablecoin over others.
- Open USD plans to launch later in 2026 with support from more than 140 companies, including Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and Google.
- Visa introduced its own Stablecoin Platform on July 16, giving banks and fintechs access to mint, burn, store and transfer Open USD.
- Visa’s stablecoin settlement activity hit an annualized run rate of about $7 billion as of March 2026.
- Circle’s stock fell 17.5% on June 30, though index removals also played a role, making the exact cause hard to pin down.
Visa’s top executive said the payments company has no plans to pick a favorite stablecoin as a new competitor prepares to enter the market. Chief Executive Ryan McInerney made the comments during Visa’s fiscal third quarter earnings call on July 28.
McInerney said Visa will remain “multi-coin, multi-chain.” He explained that the company’s job is not to choose winners among stablecoins, but to help clients connect to whichever tokens and networks gain real use.
His remarks came as Open USD prepares for a launch later this year. The token is being built by an independent group called Open Standard, which counts more than 140 companies as backers.
Those backers include Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY and Google. Visa is one of the group’s supporters, but McInerney’s comments suggest that support does not mean an exclusive deal.
What Open USD Offers That’s Different
Open Standard says businesses will be able to mint and redeem Open USD without fees or volume limits once it launches. Most of the revenue earned from the reserves backing the token would go back to the companies that adopt and distribute it.
This setup is different from how Tether and Circle run their stablecoins. Those companies control their own reserve management and keep the related profits for themselves.
Open Standard says an independent team and its partners will oversee Open USD’s governance instead. These are still planned features, since the token has not launched yet.
ARK Invest researcher Lorenzo Valente said partner support for Open USD may be “closer to a soft LOI than a strategic bet.” That is his own interpretation, not a term disclosed by Visa or Open Standard.
Neither company has published details on how much money, distribution or balance sheet backing each partner is required to provide. The launch of Open USD has already raised questions elsewhere in the market.
Circle’s stock dropped 17.5% on June 30. Index removals from Russell also happened that day, so it is hard to say how much of the drop came from Open USD news alone.
Visa’s Own Stablecoin Platform
Visa’s clearest move so far is a product it launched itself. On July 16, the company rolled out the Visa Stablecoin Platform for banks, fintechs and crypto companies.
The platform currently gives users access to Open USD, including tools to mint, burn, store and transfer the token. It runs inside an environment managed by Visa.
Visa said the platform will also link up with its existing settlement, card and money movement services. This means it could support other stablecoins too, not just Open USD.
In June, Visa reported that its stablecoin settlement activity reached an annualized run rate of about $7 billion as of March 2026. That figure shows Visa is already active in this space beyond any single token.
Open Standard has not shared an exact launch date, starting supply or expected transaction volume for Open USD. Since the token is not live, there is no on-chain data yet to compare it with Tether or Circle’s coin.
The real test will come after launch, when it becomes clear whether Visa’s 140-plus partners actually build Open USD into their payment and trading products. Visa has already opened a path for the token through its own platform, but McInerney’s comments make clear the company plans to keep supporting rival tokens at the same time.
