Goldman Sachs, Citi Join $270 Million Bank-Backed Stablecoin Venture: Report
Key Takeaways
- •Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander and Deutsche Bank have committed roughly $270 million to a jointly owned stablecoin venture, according to a Bloomberg report.
- •The US-based company plans to issue a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, with the committed funds expected to support about five years of operations.
- •The participating banks will share a single jointly owned issuer instead of each launching their own stablecoin.
- •The project, referred to internally as Project Faro, is searching for a chief executive and has not yet chosen an official name or launch timeline.
- •The venture follows the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, which created a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins in the United States.
Goldman Sachs, Citi Join $270 Million Bank-Backed Stablecoin Venture: Report
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander and Deutsche Bank are part of a group of financial firms that have committed around $270 million to a jointly owned stablecoin venture, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The funds are expected to support roughly five years of operations at the company, which will be based in the United States and issue a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Under the structure described in the report, the participating banks would share a single jointly owned issuer rather than each launching a stablecoin of their own.
The initiative, known among participants as Project Faro, is searching for a chief executive and has not yet chosen an official name.
Background: Banks and Stablecoins
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value by pegging to a fiat currency, most commonly the US dollar. They are widely used for crypto trading, payments and cross-border settlement, and the market is currently led by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.
Wall Street's engagement with blockchain-based money has grown in recent years, with major banks experimenting with tokenized deposits and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure. In the United States, the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, established a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, setting clearer rules for existing issuers and prospective entrants alike.
If completed as described, the venture would place Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander and Deutsche Bank — banking groups headquartered in the United States, Spain and Germany, respectively — among the issuers of dollar-pegged tokens. That would take the banks' blockchain involvement beyond the tokenized-deposit and settlement experiments described above and into direct issuance in a market that has so far been dominated by crypto-native firms rather than traditional banks.
Details of the project remain limited. Key developments to watch include the appointment of a chief executive, the selection of an official name and the publication of a launch timeline, none of which has yet been announced. This remains a developing story.
