Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Banco Santander and Deutsche Bank are among a group of global banks committing roughly $270 million to a joint venture that plans to issue a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin—a digital token designed to hold a fixed value against the dollar and settle payments onchain.

The funding was reported on Tuesday by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, and marks the venture's move from blueprint to buildout. The capital is intended to cover five years of operations for a planned U.S.-incorporated company that will issue the dollar-pegged token. Known among participants as Project Faro, the venture is still searching for a chief executive, and its final name remains under discussion.

A spokesperson for the project declined to comment, as did representatives for Santander and Deutsche Bank, while Goldman Sachs and Citi referred questions to the project.

The commitment puts real money behind a venture that remains in its early stages, but it marks a clear signal that some of the world's largest lenders intend to contest ground in digital payments that has long been held by crypto-native issuers.

From blueprint to buildout

The funding represents the concrete next step for an initiative that first went public late last year and has been taking shape since. As Decrypt previously reported, 21 of the world's largest financial institutions committed in September to form a company to issue a U.S. dollar stablecoin, targeting a launch in the first half of 2027, with a euro version and other currencies to follow.

The consortium has more than doubled in size from an initial group of 10 banks that began exploring the idea in October 2025. It now spans member institutions across North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Beyond the four named by Bloomberg, its participants include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments, PNC, Capital One, TD Bank, UBS, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and MUFG, among others. JPMorgan, notably, is not on the list.

Rival initiatives

Project Faro is one of several collaborative pushes by established finance into the stablecoin business. Visa, Mastercard and Stripe are among more than 100 companies backing the issuer Open Standard, while European banks have formed Qivalis to issue a euro-denominated coin.

At the moment, Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC together account for about 85% of a stablecoin market worth roughly $290 billion, nearly all of it pegged to the U.S. dollar. When the bank consortium first went public in September, Circle's stock fell about 6% as investors priced in the prospect of bank-backed competition for USDC.

Regulatory footing

The banks are betting that institutional trust, regulatory alignment and existing client networks can win them a share of a settlement business that promises round-the-clock, cross-border payments at lower cost than traditional financial rails.

The token is being designed to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act, which created the first federal framework for dollar-pegged tokens in 2025, and, where applicable, the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime. The group has said it wants the stablecoin to be used across wholesale, institutional and retail markets.

Still pre-launch

For now, Project Faro remains pre-launch: no token has been issued, no chief executive has been named, and even the final name is unsettled, with a 2027 target that leaves ample room for delay. The near-term milestones are the appointment of a chief executive, a settled brand and, ultimately, the first issuance—steps that stand between the new funding and the group's first-half 2027 launch window. Still, the roughly $270 million commitment marks a shift from planning to funding, and a concrete signal that the bank consortium intends to compete for the onchain dollar rather than leave it to crypto firms.