A consortium led by credit card giant Visa (NYSE: $V) and backed by more than 100 companies worldwide has launched a new stablecoin.
The consortium, which also includes Mastercard (NYSE: $MA) and privately held Stripe, has
launched a new U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called “OUSD” (CRYPTO: $OUSD).
The stablecoin is issued by Open Standard, the Visa-led consortium or coalition that’s backed by major financial and technology companies and seeks to govern the OUSD ecosystem.
OUSD is now available to businesses and software developers, with Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) providing initial access.
The consortium, along with Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify (NASDAQ: $SHOP), have committed to minting $1 billion U.S. worth of OUSD to seed liquidity.
In a statement, Open Standard said the new stablecoin aims to address limitations that are holding back broader stablecoin adoption.
OUSD is now live across four blockchains, including Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) and
Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL), with consortium members planning to integrate it into their products.
Analysts say the combination of payment networks, crypto infrastructure, and e-commerce platforms gives OUSD a built-in distribution network as it attempts to gain traction and support.
The launch of the OUSD stablecoin is seen as a blow to the two largest stablecoin issuers, privately held Tether (CRYPTO: $USDT) and Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL).
Circle issues USD Coin (CRYPTO: $USDC).
Visa’s stock has risen 3% over the past 12 months to trade at $359.96 U.S. per share.
