The consortium behind Open USD is not competing on demand. It is competing on who keeps the reserve income.
On 30 June, more than 140 firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, Google, BNY and Coinbase announced Open USD, a dollar stablecoin governed by a new entity called Open Standard.1 Circle fell 17.5% to $62.63 that day, though removal from five Russell growth indexes the same week added mechanical selling.2
The model matters more than the launch. OUSD is not live, is due in H2 2026 natively on Ethereum, Solana and Tempo, and its reserve composition, custodian and management fee are all unconfirmed.1,3 Incumbent issuers keep reserve income. OUSD would pass it to distribution partners, net of a management fee, with no minting fees and no volume caps.1 That would take what Circle pays Coinbase as a negotiated cost and make it the sector default.
Where the economics sit
Reserve income was 94% of Circle’s Q1 2026 total revenue and reserve income.4 Circle paid Coinbase $907.9M in 2024, roughly 54% of that year’s revenue, under an agreement effective 18 August 2023 whose initial three-year term closes this month. Renewal is automatic for a further three years if performance thresholds are met and the parties cannot agree on modifications, so a lapse is unlikely, but Coinbase now sits on both sides of the argument.5
Supply is not carrying the story either. Total stablecoin supply was $292.3B on 2 August, up 13.7% year over year but down 4.6% over 90 days from a May peak of $307.7B. USDC has contracted 7.6% over 90 days to $71.5B; USDT is down 3.3% to $183.0B.6
What it means for portfolios
For advisors with equity exposure to digital-asset infrastructure, the fragile line is reserve margin, not usage. USDC on-chain transaction volume grew 263% year over year in Q1 while revenue fell to $694.1M from $770.0M the prior quarter.4 Rate path and take rate drive earnings.
Regulation points the same way. GENIUS bars issuers from paying yield to holders.7 The CLARITY bill, which cleared Senate Banking 15-9 in May and is not yet law, permits activity-based rewards while barring yield on idle balances.8 With direct yield constrained, competition has moved to distribution economics.
The counterweight: OUSD is announced, not built. Some named partners have disputed participation, and USDC’s decade of exchange, DeFi and custody integrations is not replicated by a press release. Circle’s next reserve-margin datapoint arrives with Q2 results on 5 August.9
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the CoinShares Crypto ETF Hub.
Sources
- Fortune, 30 Jun 2026
- The Crypto Times, 1 Jul 2026
- CryptoRank, 30 Jul 2026
- Circle, Q1 2026 results, 11 May 2026
- Circle, SEC Form S-1, Apr 2025
- Token Terminal, 2 Aug 2026
- GENIUS Act, signed into law 18 Jul 2025
- US Senate Banking Committee, 14 May 2026
- Circle, press release, 21 Jul 2026
