When Open Standard announced Open USD a month ago, investors quickly interpreted the backing from Coinbase (COIN), Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) as a direct challenge to Circle (CRCL) and its $72 billion USDC stablecoin.
The announcement erased billions of dollars from Circle's market value. Shares fell as much as 20% — and have yet to recover — as the consortium unveiled more than 140 launch partners, fueling concerns that some of USDC's largest commercial partners were lining up behind a rival digital dollar.
The reaction highlighted a broader shift in the stablecoin market. Once dominated by a handful of crypto-native issuers like Circle, the sector now is drawing banks, payment networks and fintech firms eager to issue or distribute digital dollars as regulation clears the way for wider adoption. With that, the competitive battle is increasingly extending beyond issuing tokens to securing the payment rails, exchanges and financial platforms that put them into users' hands.
Recent earnings calls from Open USD's highest-profile backers, however, paint a more nuanced picture. Executives at Coinbase, Visa and Mastercard all said they intend to support multiple stablecoins instead of betting on a single winner, describing Open USD as another network to connect to rather than a replacement for USDC.
During its second-quarter earnings call last week, Coinbase reassured investors about its close relationship with Circle. Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said the exchange has already met the conditions to renew its commercial agreement with Circle and will continue growing the USDC ecosystem.
CEO Brian Armstrong also said Coinbase remains a "multi-stablecoin platform" and wants to support whichever stablecoins customers choose to use. The exchange already supports USDC alongside Tether's USDT and PayPal's PYUSD, he said, with Open USD creating "additional business opportunities and revenue opportunities."
Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, struck a similar tone during his firm’s earnings call, describing the company as "multi-coin, multi-chain" and saying that Visa's role is to help clients connect to whichever stablecoins gain adoption.
"Our role is not to pick winners," he said.
Notably, Visa offered the first live example of pushing Open USD to customers. The firm last month launched its Visa Stablecoin Platform, giving banks, fintechs and payment providers tools to access, store, redeem and move stablecoins, with OUSD serving as the initial supported token.
Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said the company already supports USDC, Paxos-led Global Dollar Network (USDG) and other stablecoins, describing Open USD as "another coin that we will enable across our network."
"Choice has always been a key criteria and will be the same here in stablecoins," he said.
Miebach described Open USD as a payments-focused utility with shared economics, while acknowledging governance would not involve all 140-plus partners. "Otherwise we wouldn't move anything forward," he said. The firm – and recently acquired BVNK — are also listed as ecosystem members of USDG, another consortium-governed stablecoin project that includes Robinhood among its members.
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