OUSD (Open USD) is a dollar stablecoin that went live on September 30, 2026. It's issued by Bridge and governed by Open Standard, a company founded by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa. The token itself is conventional. What's new is the business model: free minting and redemption for businesses, a per-transaction fee instead, and reserve income shared with partners rather than kept by the issuer.

A lot of the launch coverage reads like a press release or a horse race. I build stablecoin infrastructure, so I want to look at OUSD the way I'd look at any system: what's actually different in how it works, and what isn't.

The facts, as published

Here's what the launch materials and coverage say:

• Issuer: Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired in 2024. Bridge says OUSD is currently issued by Bridge Building Inc. It has OCC conditional approval for a national trust bank, but that entity isn't operational yet and doesn't issue OUSD (Bridge).
• Governance: Open Standard is an independent company. Its founders hold equal initial equity stakes, more than 200 partners have joined, and the board is made up of partners (Open Standard, Forbes).
• Chains: OUSD is native on Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo. It's now the default stablecoin configuration on Stripe, on Tempo, though Stripe still supports other stablecoins and won't force anyone to convert (Stripe blog).
• Reserves: held at BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY, with monthly attestations promised. The five founders committed more than $1 billion to seed initial liquidity (Forbes).
• Access: businesses can mint and redeem 1:1 through Stripe, Mastercard's BVNK and the Visa Stablecoin Platform, with Coinbase access starting October 1 (Forbes).
• Pricing: "businesses can convert freely between dollars and OUSD at no cost. Instead, Open Standard charges a small, predictable transaction fee" (Stripe newsroom).
• Economics: partners "receive all of the earnings from Open USD's reserves, less a small management fee" (Open Standard).

Two numbers haven't been published: the transaction fee and the management fee. Anyone quoting a figure for either is guessing.

Who it's actually for

Read the launch materials closely and the target customer is clear: businesses that move money. That means fintechs, payroll and remittance platforms, merchants, exchanges and card programs. The mint and redemption paths run through Stripe, BVNK and Visa's platform, not a consumer app. If you're an individual, you'll mostly see OUSD indirectly, as the rail under a product you already use. That framing matters, because most of what's new about OUSD is pricing and economics for the businesses in the middle.

What OUSD changes

1. It moves the cost from the edges to the middle

Most fiat-backed stablecoins make money in two places: reserve income, and sometimes fees to mint or redeem, especially at volume. Stripe's announcement says those variable mint and burn fees are what make existing stablecoins expensive for high-volume businesses like remittance and payroll platforms.

OUSD flips that around. Converting in and out is free, and a fee applies when the token moves. From a systems point of view, that rewards "convert, move, convert back" flows over long-term holding. It also changes arbitrage. When redemption is free and fast, anyone with access can close a gap between market price and $1 more cheaply, which should help keep the price tight to the peg on venues where those participants are active.

2. It treats reserve income as a distribution budget

Every reserve-backed stablecoin earns interest on T-bills, repo and deposits. The question is who gets it. In the established model, the issuer earns it and negotiates shares with distributors. Circle's public filings show this in detail: payments to Coinbase are figured from USDC reserve income and booked as distribution costs (Circle 10-K).

OUSD starts from the opposite end. Partner payouts are the default, and the operator keeps a management fee. Open Standard's CEO, Zach Abrams, has said rewards follow the supply and activity partners drive, and that most of the company's equity will go to partners over time (reported by Forbes). In plain terms, it's a partner program wrapped around a dollar token.

3. It makes attribution a core system

If rewards depend on "supply and activity," someone has to measure both, per partner, across four chains, in a way partners will trust. That's a big data problem. You have to attribute balances to partners, classify transactions as qualifying or not, and stop wash activity from inflating anyone's share. I'd argue the attribution ledger is as important to OUSD as the token contract, and it's the part we know least about.

What OUSD doesn't change

It's still a reserve-backed dollar. OUSD lives under the same rules as any other US payment stablecoin. The GENIUS Act limits reserves to cash, insured deposits, short-dated Treasuries, overnight repo and government money market funds, and requires monthly public reserve reports (Public Law 119-27). New governance doesn't change where the dollar sits.

It doesn't pay holders interest. GENIUS bars issuers from paying holders interest or yield for holding a stablecoin. Bridge says businesses that join Open Standard can earn rewards on OUSD balances held at Bridge, and Open Standard describes rewards as tied to supply, activity and qualifying services. How regulators treat partner rewards is open. The OCC's proposal would presume a violation when an issuer pays an affiliate or "related third party" that then pays yield to holders (Davis Polk). The final rules, and the contracts behind the rewards, will decide where OUSD's model lands. If you're an individual holding OUSD, don't assume you earn anything.

It's not insured. Like every stablecoin, OUSD isn't a bank deposit. The FDIC's proposed GENIUS rule would treat reserve deposits as the issuer's deposits, not pass-through coverage for holders (FDIC).

Multi-chain is still hard. "Native on four chains" means four supply ledgers that must add up to one reserve, every day. Each chain has its own finality, indexing quirks and failure modes. Native issuance avoids third-party bridge risk, but it doesn't make reconciliation go away. Someone still has to prove that total supply equals the reserve.

Network effects are real. Existing stablecoins have years of exchange listings, DeFi integrations and liquidity. Distribution through Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase is a strong start, but adoption gets decided by usage, not launch-day partner logos.

What I'll be watching

• The first monthly attestation. Reserve composition, custody split and timing.
• The fee schedule. A "small, predictable" fee needs a number before anyone can model it.
• Rewards terms. Whether payouts are activity-based or balance-based, and how that holds up as the OCC, FDIC and Fed finalize GENIUS rules. The Fed's proposal takes comments until November 30 (Federal Register).
• The issuer's charter path. Whether Bridge's trust bank gets final approval before GENIUS takes effect, which is January 18, 2027 at the latest.

FAQ

What is OUSD? OUSD, or Open USD, is a US dollar stablecoin launched on September 30, 2026. It's created by Open Standard, issued by Bridge, and backed 1:1 by dollar reserves.

Who is behind the OUSD stablecoin? Open Standard was founded by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa, which hold equal initial equity stakes. More than 200 partners have joined.

What's the difference between OUSD and USDC? Both are reserve-backed dollar stablecoins. The difference is the business model. OUSD offers free mint and redemption for businesses, charges a transaction fee, and shares reserve income with partners by default. USDC's issuer earns the reserve income and shares part of it with distributors under negotiated agreements.

Does OUSD pay interest? No. US law bars issuers from paying holders interest for holding a stablecoin. Open Standard partners can earn rewards, and how those are structured is still being shaped by regulators.

Which blockchains support OUSD? Base, Ethereum, Solana and Tempo, natively, at launch.

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Views are my own and don't represent my employer. This is an explainer, not investment advice or an endorsement of any stablecoin.