Visa, BlackRock, and hundreds of other giants launch new stablecoin Open USD (OUSD)! Circle's stock plummets 13%, CEO fights back: USDC remains the top choice for institutions.

The stablecoin market is facing an unprecedented "Avengers Assemble" challenge! According to a Bloomberg report, a coalition of over a hundred giants including Visa, BlackRock, Stripe, and Google has announced the launch of a new revenue-sharing stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD). This directly targets Circle (USDC)'s core business model, causing its stock price to plummet over 5% in a single day. Facing this formidable enemy, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire quickly issued a lengthy response today (30th), reaffirming USDC's dominant position and declaring that Circle is ready for this Web3 financial endgame.

(Previous Summary: Taiwan's first crypto-specific law, the "Virtual Asset Services Act," passes third reading: comprehensive VASP licensing, three-tier stablecoin threshold, fraud punishable by up to 10 years in prison)

(Background Supplement: Full interpretation of Taiwan's crypto-specific law "Virtual Asset Services Act": What it means for investors? Exchanges move to licensing system, conditions for stablecoin issuers finalized)

Table of Contents

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• Jeremy Allaire's Swift Crisis Management: Welcome Competition, USDC Is Irreplaceable
• Deploying Multi-Currency Infrastructure: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them?
• Business Model Comparison: USDC vs. OUSD
• Mixed Community Reactions, Shareholders Cry for "Share Buybacks"

The stablecoin track changed overnight! On June 30, 2026, Bloomberg dropped a bombshell: more than 100 top-tier giants spanning Web2 and Web3, traditional finance and technology — including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, and Alphabet (Google) — announced the formation of the "Open Standard" alliance.

The alliance plans to launch a new USD stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD), in the second half of this year. This stablecoin, temporarily led by Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge (a Stripe company), boasts zero minting/redemption fees and will share most of the reserve asset yield with participating partners. This "neutral governance + revenue sharing" business model is seen by Wall Street as a major existential threat to current stablecoin runner-up Circle (USDC), causing Circle's stock price ($CRCL) to plummet, currently down over 13%.

Jeremy Allaire's Swift Crisis Management: Welcome Competition, USDC Is Irreplaceable

Within hours of the stock price turbulence and high market panic, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire quickly published a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter) for crisis communication and confidence-building. He did not directly name OUSD, but every line was a strong response to this event.

Allaire first reiterated the huge potential of stablecoins as "money movement infrastructure" for the global internet, and proudly stated: "USDC remains the most trusted, most widely adopted, and most institutionally mature stablecoin in the world." He emphasized that Circle's ecosystem already includes thousands of institutional partners across virtually all major industries, and this moat of compliance and trust, built over a decade, cannot be overturned overnight.

Stablecoins represent one of the largest market opportunities in the world as the internet transforms the infrastructure for storing and moving money. We deeply believe in this, and it's why we both founded Circle and why we've invested to build the largest regulated stablecoin…

— Jeremy Allaire – jerallaire.arc (@jerallaire) June 30, 2026

Deploying Multi-Currency Infrastructure: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them?

Facing the "revenue sharing" banner raised by the OUSD alliance, Allaire also revealed Circle's next strategic counterattack in his post:

• Expanding Economic Stakeholders: Circle will work to deeply integrate with global banks and capital markets, and "make partners economic stakeholders in the growth and success of the USDC network," which appears to be a direct response to OUSD's revenue-sharing model.
• Embracing Multi-Currency and Infrastructure: Allaire emphasized that Circle will continue to expand support for "more USD and non-USD stablecoins" on its own Arc, CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol), StableFX, Circle Wallets, and CPN. This means that even if new mainstream stablecoins emerge in the market, Circle can profit by providing the underlying infrastructure.

Business Model Comparison: USDC vs. OUSD

| Comparison Dimension | | --- | Circle (USDC) | Open Standard Alliance (OUSD) | | --- | --- | --- | | Backing and Governance | Dominant single-enterprise (Circle), with Coinbase previously investing to assist governance; driven by listed company compliance. | Composed of over 100 cross-industry giants, featuring "alliance-style, shared ownership" neutral governance. | | Core Profit Model | Mainly relies on interest income from underlying reserve assets such as U.S. Treasuries. | Shares "most of the reserve yield with participating partners," exchanging profit for market share. | | Market Positioning | World's second-largest stablecoin, preferred by compliant institutions, with deep liquidity and cross-chain advantages (CCTP). | Expected to launch in the second half of 2026, directly leveraging the alliance's vast payment and financial ecosystem to drive adoption. |

Mixed Community Reactions, Shareholders Cry for "Share Buybacks"

This "morale-boosting" post received some supporters' approval, looking forward to the rollout of new products like Arc in emerging markets such as Nigeria. However, the comments section was filled with investor dissatisfaction. Many shareholders criticized Circle's weak stock performance since early 2026 and questioned insiders' continued selling of shares amid intensifying competition, strongly urging management to immediately implement share buybacks to restore market confidence.

This stablecoin world war sparked by a hundred giants will force established issuers like Tether and Circle to rethink their "keeping all the interest" business model. Whether Circle can continue to build a "thriving stablecoin-native network financial system" as Allaire claims remains to be seen by Wall Street.