Open Standard launched OUSD on September 30, 2026. Bridge, a Stripe company, issues the token and publishes the reserve data behind it. The token went live natively on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo. Three integration paths opened at launch: BVNK, Stripe, and the Visa Stablecoin Platform. Mastercard acquired BVNK, which explains its place in that lineup. Coinbase then opened a fourth path on October 1. Notably, every path mints and burns OUSD at 1:1 against the dollar, at no cost. Traders can also reach OUSD through Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.
$OUSD is live.
— Open Standard (@openstandard) September 30, 2026
Build with OUSD via @Coinbase @Mastercard @Stripe and @Visa. Each integration path supports 1:1 USD conversion at no cost.
Read the announcement: https://t.co/177w9TlM77. pic.twitter.com/SEWT6vCXPS
Who Owns Open Standard, and Why It Matters
Five companies anchor the project: Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa. Each holds an equal initial equity stake. Together, they committed more than $1 billion to seed OUSD liquidity. However, the ownership structure matters more than that headline number.
Nearly all interest earned on OUSD reserves flows to partners, after a management fee. Circle, in contrast, keeps most USDC reserve income and shares revenue through commercial deals. Open Standard also distributes equity based on the supply and activity each partner drives. Founding partners receive no special profit-sharing under those rules. Meanwhile, the network has grown past 200 partners, up from more than 140 at the June reveal. Named participants include Standard Chartered, Ripple, Google, and BlackRock.
Zach Abrams, the founding CEO, framed the distinction bluntly. “Every other stablecoin is building a fund. We’re building money,” he told CoinDesk. He also argued that businesses need stablecoins that stay “open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible and aligned to their interests.” Abrams co-founded Bridge before Stripe acquired it in 2025 for roughly $1.1 billion. Previously, he led product teams at Square, Coinbase, and Brex.
Reserves Sit With BlackRock, BNY, and Lead Bank
Reserve backing runs through BlackRock, Lead Bank, and BNY. Open Standard publishes monthly attestations at reserves.bridge.xyz/ousd. Importantly, attestations differ from full audits. They confirm balances at a point in time, not internal controls. As a result, readers should weigh scope, methodology, and auditor independence before treating them as equivalent. Naming large custodians also does not remove custody, banking, or liquidity risk. Reserve composition and duration remain the details worth tracking each month.
Chainlink Becomes an Official Data Oracle
Open Standard has standardized on Chainlink as an official data oracle for OUSD. Chainlink announced the arrangement on September 30, the same day the token went live. That choice speaks directly to the verification gap above. Monthly attestations sit offchain, where smart contracts cannot read them. Oracles, by contrast, publish verified external data onchain for contracts to consume.
Chainlink’s data standard covers price feeds, high-frequency data streams, and a family of products called SmartData. SmartData includes Proof of Reserve, which checks whether offchain reserves genuinely back an onchain token. That service currently verifies more than $17 billion across 56 projects. Chainlink also shipped CCIP 2.0 on September 28, adding compliance controls for institutional cross-chain transfers. However, Open Standard has not yet specified which Chainlink services OUSD will actually use. The announcement named the oracle without detailing the exact feeds.
NEW: @openstandard has standardized on Chainlink as an official data oracle for Open USD.
— Chainlink (@chainlink) September 30, 2026
Supported by 200+ financial giants like @Stripe, @Mastercard, and @Visa, OUSD brings zero-cost mint/burn mechanics and shared rewards to onchain finance.
Open Standard 🤝 Chainlink https://t.co/h1Vf7wO5kv pic.twitter.com/uDl44DMnKL
The Challenge to Circle and Tether Is Direct
The stablecoin market now exceeds $300 billion. Tether’s USDT leads with roughly $143 billion, near 62% of supply. Circle’s USDC follows at about $74 billion, close to 25%. OUSD targets the enterprise users sitting inside that second tier.
Investors reacted sharply when Open Standard first revealed the plan on June 30, 2026. Circle shares fell roughly 17% that session, closing at $62.63, a four-month low. The stock ended that month down more than 40%. Analysts at William Blair still called the fears overblown. Andrew Jeffrey and Adib Choudhury reiterated an Outperform rating, citing USDC liquidity and the Circle Payments Network. They also compared Open Standard to payment consortiums that stalled, including MCX and Paze. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire welcomed the competition and called USDC the most trusted and widely adopted option.
What to Watch Next
Several open questions will decide whether OUSD converts its backing into real usage. First, circulating supply matters more than a $1 billion commitment, and launch reporting did not confirm day-one supply. Second, four chains improve reach but can fragment liquidity. Bridges, wrapped versions, and redemption conventions all add friction.
Third, Coinbase, Visa, and Mastercard remain important USDC partners today. Their incentives could shift, yet for now they run a multi-stablecoin strategy. Finally, regulators will examine how partner rewards get characterized. The GENIUS Act created a federal framework for payment stablecoins in July 2025. That law lowered barriers for new issuers, which helped make OUSD possible. Still, launching into a regime differs from holding an approval under it.
