Circle’s shares dropped over 17% after a major group backed by Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, Mastercard, and Visa launched Open USD, a new stablecoin network meant to compete with USDC. The new network offers fee-free minting and redemption, shared governance, and reserve income for participating businesses.
These features directly challenge Circle’s business model. The announcement comes as competition heats up in the growing stablecoin market, with banks, payment firms, and fintech companies now focusing on controlling the digital payment infrastructure rather than just issuing tokens.
Circle’s stock closed below $63, its lowest since late February and about 55% below its mid-May peak. This drop shows investors are worried about growing competition in the stablecoin sector.
Introducing Open USD: a stablecoin built for the internet economy, designed by the businesses growing it.https://t.co/jqgDRs6mKf
— Open Standard (@openstandard) June 30, 2026
The new network is being developed by an independent company called Open Standard. Prominent figures in payments, cryptocurrency and finance are among its initial partners. In addition to Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock, the group consists of Mastercard, Visa and more than 140 additional companies in the banking, fintech and blockchain industries.
Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge (a stablecoin infrastructure company bought by Stripe in 2024), leads the initiative. Abrams said businesses now need stablecoins that are open, affordable, scalable, and built to serve users’ interests instead of just one issuer.
Unlike traditional stablecoins, Open USD will allow participating businesses to mint and redeem tokens without paying fees. More importantly, reserve income generated from investments in short-term U.S. Treasuries will be shared with partners after management costs. This differs significantly from the existing model, where issuers such as Circle retain most of the interest income earned on reserves.
This approach is similar to the Paxos-led Global Dollar Network (USDG), which also shares reserve earnings with its partners to encourage more adoption.
LATEST: 📊 Circle’s stock fell more than 15% after more than 140 companies, including Coinbase and Visa, announced a rival stablecoin called Open USD. pic.twitter.com/JOZHXahmDn
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) July 1, 2026
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