Open Standard Unveils $OUSD, a Stablecoin For the Internet Economy

Open Standard, an emerging issuer with a mouth-watering partner list, has today unveiled $OUSD, a self-proclaimed “stablecoin for global money movement”.

Promising to distribute earnings among contributors and charge zero fees on mint and redemption, $OUSD could represent the biggest threat to the reigning stablecoin duopoly.

What is $OUSD, and why are the biggest names in finance backing a new stablecoin issuer?

Open USD: Distributed Earnings, Feeless Mint & Redemption

On June 30, Open Standard unveiled $OUSD, an emerging stablecoin designed to scale the global internet economy. 

While stablecoins like Tether’s $USDT and Circle’s $USDC have undoubtedly been the biggest business success stories in crypto history, Open Standard implies that the incumbent’s fee models and earnings distribution are inhibiting the growth of crypto’s greatest source of PMF.

Slated to launch later this year, Open Standard’s $OUSD is reinventing the tried-and-true stablecoin model, relying on three critical designed principles to dethrone the duopoly:

• Fee-free $OUSD mint and redemption

• Distributed earnings from reserves

• Collaborative governance led by Open USD partners

According to Open Standard, the protocol intends to share “nearly all” earnings from reserves amongst partners and companies that grow $OUSD adoption. Reserves are expected to be held at major financial institutions, while adhering to U.S. regulatory standards.  

“Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something that’s open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests. We’re thrilled to bring together over 140 businesses to launch Open USD. It’s a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.” - Zach Abrams, Open Standard Founding CEO

While little has been made public about Open Standard beyond its vision and star-studded partner list, the firm has presented Zach Abrams, current CEO of Bridge, a Stripe-owned stablecoin payments platform, as its Founding CEO.

Powered by One of Crypto’s Most Influential Partner Lists

Open Standard’s call for scalable global money movement has been answered not only by the biggest names in crypto, but by TradFi heavyweights across the planet. 

Over 140 partners have already pledged their support for $OUSD including BlackRock, Visa, Stripe, PayPal, Western Union, Google, and Shopify.

“We believe stablecoins can play an important role in the evolution of digital markets when supported by trusted infrastructure and practical utility. Open USD is a constructive step toward giving businesses more choice in how they access tokenized value and participate in internet native digital rails.” - Samara Cohen, BlackRock Global Head of Market Development

$CRCL Down 13% as CEO Issues Statement

While most of the crypto economy has rejoiced at the prospect of feeless mint-and-redemptions and widespread earnings distributions, the emergence of Open Standard has dealt a tough blow to the existing duopoly.

Circle’s stock value plummeted in the hours following the announcement, with $CRCL dropping 13% to currently exchange hands at $65.5.

Open Standard’s announcement has since drawn a public statement from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, who opined that the firm welcomes continued innovation and competition in the space.

Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino welcomed Open Standard into the fold, while subtly throwing barbs at Circle, Tether’s current leading competitor.

As it stands, Open Standard’s $OUSD has some of the strongest foundations from which a new stablecoin can challenge the prevailing duopoly. DefiLlama estimates that Tether and Circle are both generating multiple billions in annualized revenue, making them arguably crypto’s most successful businesses ever. 

Dozens, if not hundreds of stablecoins have launched in recent years, each boasting the lofty goal of dethroning $USDT and $USDC at the top. $OUSD’s promised earnings distributions and feeless design is likely to make it a popular choice for businesses, cutting directly into duopoly’s main revenue streams and distributing that wealth across an open governance model of contributors. 

$OUSD is expected to launch later this year across crypto’s most popular blockchains, and will be available Day One on Solana.

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