Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
Open USD (OUSD): A Dollar Stablecoin Founded by Payment Giants
Founded by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa
Open USD (OUSD) is a US dollar stablecoin launched on September 30, 2026, by Open Standard, a company set up by payments and fintech firms. It drew attention for returning most of its reserve income to the businesses that adopt and distribute it.
1. Who made it: Open Standard and Bridge
Open Standard was unveiled in June 2026 as an independent company, with Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa as founding partners holding equal stakes. Its board is drawn from participating companies, and it plans to hand out equity over several years to firms that help OUSD grow. Its chief executive is Zach Abrams.
The token itself is issued by Bridge, the stablecoin company whose acquisition Stripe announced in 2024. In February 2026 Bridge said it had received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to form a national trust bank. More than 200 companies, including UBS and SBI Holdings, plan to join the network.
2. How it works: reserves and free minting
OUSD is pegged 1:1 to the dollar, and its reserves are held at BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY, with monthly attestation reports from Bridge. Business customers can mint OUSD with dollars, or redeem it, without fees or volume caps.
Most stablecoin issuers keep the interest earned on reserves, but OUSD passes most of it, after a small management fee, to partner companies that hold and distribute the coin. That lets banks, payment firms and merchants share in the income from their customers’ balances. Chainlink serves as its official data oracle.
3. Chains and uses
OUSD is issued natively on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo, a payments blockchain led by Stripe, rather than as wrapped copies moved by bridges. Businesses can reach it through Stripe’s payments, card-issuing and payout products, Visa’s stablecoin platform and the Mastercard-owned BVNK.
Coinbase, Kraken and the decentralised exchange Uniswap were among the first trading venues, and a proposal was made to list OUSD on the lending market Aave. Stripe plans to make it the default stablecoin for its business customers. On the Crypto Nation map, OUSD stands in Ethereum City (the capital), because CoinGecko lists Ethereum as its first chain.
4. Things to know: a very new coin, and a name clash
Launched only at the end of September 2026, OUSD has yet to show how widely it will be used for payments. The founders pledged large liquidity support, but observers noted that early issuance was far smaller than those pledges.
Minting and redemption are aimed at businesses, so individuals must use exchanges or DeFi. Fiat-backed stablecoins are generally centralised, with issuers able to freeze addresses, and their terms can change with regulation. Another coin, Origin Protocol’s Origin Dollar, also uses the ticker OUSD, so always check the contract address and name.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.