Open USD rattled Circle’s stock after its launch, but executives at Coinbase, Visa and Mastercard now say the project is part of a broader multi-stablecoin strategy rather than a direct replacement for USDC.

When Open Standard announced Open USD a month ago, investors quickly interpreted the backing from Coinbase (COIN), Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) as a direct challenge to Circle (CRCL) and its $72 billion USDC stablecoin. The announcement erased billions of dollars from Circle’s market value. Shares fell as much as 20% — and have yet to recover — after the consortium unveiled more than 140 launch partners, fueling concerns that some of USDC’s largest commercial partners were lining up behind a rival digital dollar.

The reaction also underscored a broader shift in the stablecoin market. Once dominated by a handful of crypto-native issuers such as Circle, the sector is now attracting banks, payment networks and fintech firms that want to issue or distribute digital dollars as regulation clears the way for wider adoption. As a result, competition is increasingly extending beyond token issuance to the payment rails, exchanges and financial platforms that bring stablecoins to users.

Recent earnings calls from Open USD’s most visible backers, however, suggest the initial market reaction may have overstated the project’s immediate significance for USDC, even as it highlights how quickly stablecoins are becoming embedded in mainstream payments infrastructure.

Multi-coin strategy

During Coinbase’s second-quarter earnings call last week, Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said the exchange has already met the conditions needed to renew its commercial agreement with Circle and will continue growing the USDC ecosystem.

CEO Brian Armstrong also said Coinbase remains a "multi-stablecoin platform" and wants to support whichever stablecoins customers choose to use. The exchange already supports USDC alongside Tether’s USDT and PayPal’s PYUSD, he said, and Open USD creates "additional business opportunities and revenue opportunities."

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney offered a similar message on the company’s earnings call, describing Visa as "multi-coin, multi-chain" and saying the company’s role is to help clients connect to whichever stablecoins gain adoption.

"Our role is not to pick winners," he said.

Visa also provided the first live example of how Open USD could be pushed to customers. The company last month launched its Visa Stablecoin Platform, which gives banks, fintechs and payment providers tools to access, store, redeem and move stablecoins, with OUSD serving as the initial supported token.

Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said the company already supports USDC, Paxos-led Global Dollar Network (USDG) and other stablecoins, and described Open USD as "another coin that we will enable across our network."

"Choice has always been a key criteria and will be the same here in stablecoins," he said.

Miebach described Open USD as a payments-focused utility with shared economics, while acknowledging that governance would not include all 140-plus partners. "Otherwise we wouldn’t move anything forward," he said. Mastercard and recently acquired BVNK are also listed as ecosystem members of USDG, another consortium-governed stablecoin project that includes Robinhood among its members.

An Open Standard spokesperson did not comment on the executives’ remarks or the governance structure behind the project, adding that the company will share more details at launch later this year.

Support versus commitment

Analysts said the executives’ comments suggest observers may have read too much into Open USD’s launch partner list and should distinguish between public support and deeper operational commitment.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the commitment from OUSD’s partners is closer to a soft LOI [letter of intent] than a strategic bet," Lorenzo Valente, director of digital asset research at ARK Invest, wrote on X. "Supporting OUSD is very different from committing meaningful resources, distribution, or balance sheet to making it win."

Amey Dandawate, director at Bluechip Ratings, told CoinDesk that joining the consortium amounts to "a free option" that allows companies to participate if Open USD gains traction without making meaningful upfront commitments.

Others warned that execution will matter more than the otherwise impressive size of the partner list.

Owen Lau, managing director at Clear Street, said the market overreacted to the initial announcement. USDC and Tether’s USDT already benefit from deep liquidity and network effects, he said, making adoption a much bigger challenge than signing up partners.

"It is very difficult to align the interests of so many partners with different incentives and agendas," Lau said. Still, he said the participation of Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase could help accelerate stablecoin use in consumer payments regardless of which token ultimately gains the most traction.

Dragonfly general partner Rob Hadick said the executives reinforced his view that Stripe remains the driving force behind Open USD, while Visa and Mastercard have commercial reasons to remain neutral because they work with competing issuers.

"Their businesses require them to not alienate partners and customers," Hadick told CoinDesk. "They may push OUSD, but they must be open."