Woofun AI reports that Open Standard, an independent entity established by over 140 financial and technology companies including Stripe, Visa, BlackRock, and Coinbase, has officially announced the launch of its US dollar stablecoin project, Open USD (OUSD). This initiative signals a fundamental structural shift in the stablecoin sector, moving the operational paradigm from an issuer-driven model to one dominated by payment networks. The consortium plans to finalize on-chain deployment across networks such as Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon by the end of 2026. Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge—the stablecoin infrastructure firm acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion—has been appointed as the inaugural CEO of Open Standard. The participant roster is comprehensive, encompassing payment networks, traditional banks, asset management firms, crypto platforms, and major technology corporations, effectively assembling nearly every critical player required for stablecoins to penetrate mainstream payment systems. Governance will be managed by a board of directors composed of member representatives, with the explicit goal of establishing a novel profit-sharing framework that spans issuance, distribution, and usage scenarios. At its core, this initial alliance, representing a convergence of traditional finance and the crypto sector, seeks to decentralize nominal issuers and redirect the trillions in interest earnings previously monopolized by Circle and Tether toward entities that actually generate transaction volume.

The current market landscape is heavily skewed, with Tether dominating through a circulating supply of $185 billion in USDT, while Circle holds the second position with approximately $75 billion in USDC. In this existing ecosystem, the reserve interest income generated by these assets constitutes the bulk of earnings, which are retained entirely by the issuers. OUSD introduces a mechanism where stablecoin distributors, for the first time, possess a direct economic incentive to drive adoption. The project's design rests on three pillars: zero-cost creation and redemption, the return of reserve earnings to partners after deducting administrative costs, and a board of directors jointly governed by partners. As the nominal issuer, Open Standard does not retain the primary interest income; instead, it distributes these funds among distributors based on the transaction volume and holding balances contributed by participating enterprises. This represents a critical reallocation of profits, shifting from a concentration among issuers to a distribution model based on contribution to the network. Under traditional stablecoin models, issuers operate on a logic mirroring banks' net interest margins: users and payment platforms provide liquidity akin to interest-free deposits, while issuers manage the underlying reserve assets and capture the majority of the interest income. OUSD aims to fundamentally reshape this structure by integrating distribution partners into the profit-sharing system, ensuring that reserve earnings previously hoarded by issuers flow back to the channels driving actual usage.

For major platforms like Stripe, Shopify, and Visa, the selection of a stablecoin is no longer solely a technical decision regarding liquidation efficiency but a strategic choice affecting their revenue structure. If these entities channel their own transaction volumes and merchant funds into OUSD, they gain access to the interest margins that were historically reserved exclusively for issuers. This mechanism of sharing reserve earnings provides traditional companies with a tangible economic consideration when deciding whether to adopt stablecoins. In stark contrast, within the existing ecosystem led by Circle and Tether, issuers typically retain all reserve interest regardless of the transaction volume contributed by partners like Stripe or Visa. Consequently, these merchants remain at the usage level, unable to participate in profit distribution. Previously, platforms favored USDC primarily due to its liquidity, settlement efficiency, and mature ecosystem. OUSD seeks to alter this dynamic by changing the underlying profit structure, ensuring that distribution channels have clearer economic incentives. By directing transaction volume into OUSD, distributors can share in reserve asset earnings, effectively transforming stablecoins into financial tools with built-in profit-sharing capabilities. Platforms controlling merchant networks and transaction entry points thus gain the opportunity to participate in the distribution of underlying interest, making distributors more proactive in promoting adoption.

Traditional stablecoins often rely on expanding merchants and channels individually, whereas OUSD integrates multiple distribution capabilities through an alliance from its inception. This means the distribution network itself becomes a primary competitive advantage, even as specific mechanisms continue to be refined. The initial cohort of over 140 partners provides a distribution foundation covering both the crypto and traditional finance sectors, with combinations among different members corresponding to numerous potential B2B payment scenarios.

Furthermore, the alliance includes both large payment companies and major crypto exchanges, granting it robust funding capabilities from the start—a key condition for stablecoins to enter real-world payment systems. Essentially, this represents a profit-sharing stablecoin structure specifically designed for B2B distribution networks. The past stablecoin market largely followed two distinct paths: centralized issuance and profit concentration, represented by USDT and USDC, and decentralized solutions that emphasized governance but suffered from weaker distribution capabilities. OUSD attempts to find a balance between these two extremes, maintaining centralized liquidation efficiency while opening up profit distribution to the broader distribution network. On paper, OUSD appears as a decentralized stablecoin issuance, but from a profit structure perspective, it resembles a collective negotiation by a channel alliance against the interest margin earnings of traditional issuers.

It is therefore understandable that Circle, Tether, and PayPal—the three largest issuers in the stablecoin market—did not participate in this initiative. For the issuers left out, the pressure exerted by this new model has already manifested in capital markets. Circle (NYSE: CRCL), a representative of US stock market stablecoins, saw its stock price plummet by 17.5% on the day of the announcement. Part of this decline was attributed to passive selling caused by the semi-annual index restructuring by FTSE Russell, as Circle was removed from several growth stock indices, triggering mechanical sales by tracking funds. Even after excluding this factor, the market's reaction to the news regarding OUSD indicated a reevaluation of the sustainability of the old model where issuers concentrated earnings. For Circle, the immediate concern may not be how much liquidity OUSD can steal in the short term, as liquidity, trust, and compliance inertia are the hardest assets to replace in stablecoins.

However, the fact that the distribution of reserve earnings itself is being reevaluated represents the most significant worry for the market and highlights the weakest part of Circle's business model. This vulnerability is primarily reflected in its revenue structure, which relies heavily on interest rates. In 2025, Circle's total revenue was $2.75 billion, with the vast majority derived from interest income generated by USDC reserve assets. Just in the fourth quarter, reserve income alone reached $733 million, accounting for over 95% of total revenue. The dollars deposited by users in USDC are utilized to purchase U.S. short-term Treasury bonds, from which Circle earns interest.

Circle is also obligated to pay a significant portion of these earnings to its core distributors. According to reports, Coinbase retains all reserve income generated from USDC held on its platform, while for reserves from other channels, the earnings are split 50/50 between the two parties. In 2024, Circle paid Coinbase $908 million in distribution fees, accounting for about 54% of its total revenue. In other words, for every dollar of revenue Circle generates, more than half must be paid to Coinbase as distribution fees, yet Coinbase neither issues USDC nor assumes responsibility for reserve management. Circle finds it difficult to unilaterally adjust this distribution arrangement. As disclosed, this distribution agreement cannot be terminated unilaterally by Circle and automatically renews every three years, meaning it does not grant Circle full control over pricing and negotiation. Whether its profit margins can improve in the future largely depends on Circle's ability to build more diversified distribution channels beyond Coinbase and reduce its reliance on a single core partner. Essentially, OUSD aims to reallocate stablecoin reserve earnings from issuers to the distribution networks that control transaction volume and funding access. With this list of top partners, along with Stripe's extensive range of financial products, this challenge carries substantial weight.