Visa and Mastercard back OUSD, a stablecoin that could cut into their own business

Visa and Mastercard back OUSD stablecoin, a potential threat to their own business

Background

Visa and Mastercard have spent decades as the toll booths of global commerce. Now they've co-funded a road that might go around them. Both card networks are founding partners in Open Standard, the group behind OUSD (Open USD), a dollar-pegged stablecoin that officially launched on September 30, 2026. They hold equal equity stakes alongside Coinbase, Shopify and Stripe. Together, the five founders have committed over $1 billion to back the token's liquidity.

What OUSD is

The token went live on four blockchains at once: Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo. That multichain approach means a business doesn't have to pick a single network to plug into. Businesses can mint OUSD at a 1:1 ratio against US dollars and redeem it the same way. There are no fees and no volume limits on either side of that exchange. The reserves backing each token sit with BlackRock, BNY and Lead Bank. Open Standard publishes attestations of those reserves every month, giving holders a regular check that the dollars are actually there.

The economics

OUSD flips that arrangement. Partners share most of the reserve earnings, while Open Standard keeps a small management fee for itself. It also explains why the partner list grew quickly. Open Standard's network expanded from over 140 companies to more than 200 by launch day, and it includes heavyweight financial firms such as BlackRock and UBS. Stripe has already made OUSD its default stablecoin for business transactions.

Why the card networks signed on

The project was first announced on June 30, 2026, three months before launch. Visa and Mastercard have said they intend to support multiple stablecoins alongside OUSD. Their stated goal is broader adoption of the technology and interoperability across platforms. Mastercard's moves reinforce that hedge. The company acquired BVNK before OUSD went live, adding its own stablecoin infrastructure capability to the mix.

A crowded field with two incumbents

OUSD isn't entering an empty market. Total stablecoin supply has surpassed $300 billion, and the landscape is dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. OUSD's counterargument is distribution. Coinbase brings crypto-native reach, Shopify brings merchants, Stripe brings payment flows, and Visa and Mastercard bring relationships with banks and businesses worldwide.

What this means for the stablecoin market

For enterprises, the most immediate effect is choice. A fee-free, limit-free mint and redeem process puts pressure on any provider that charges for conversions or caps volumes. OUSD's yield-sharing model gives distribution partners a direct financial reason to prefer it, and that incentive could pull integrations away from issuers that keep reserve income to themselves. By holding equity in OUSD while also backing other stablecoins, and in Mastercard's case buying BVNK, Visa and Mastercard are positioning to collect value whichever token wins rather than betting the franchise on one outcome.

The metrics to watch

The metrics to watch from here are straightforward. Track OUSD's circulating supply against the broader $300 billion-plus market, how much business volume flows through Stripe now that OUSD is its default, and whether the card networks' other stablecoin bets grow faster than OUSD's.

Image Prompt

A photograph of a desk with a laptop, a credit card, and a stablecoin token displayed prominently, with a cityscape in the background to represent the global reach of the card networks and their new stablecoin venture.