Visa and Mastercard back $1B payments stablecoin

TLDR

Visa and Mastercard are among major firms committing $1 billion in liquidity to Open USD (OUSD), a new payments?focused dollar stablecoin.

1. Bridges Open USD (OUSD) launched with $1 billion in liquidity commitments from Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and Shopify for card and merchant payments.
2. OUSD shares reserve interest with partners and targets real?world payments rails, positioning it as a direct challenger to USDC and other payment?oriented stablecoins.
3. The real test will be whether card networks use OUSD as default settlement and whether its supply reaches tens of billions, which could reshape stablecoin competition.

Deep Dive

1. New Payments Stablecoin Backed By Card Networks

Open USD (OUSD) is a new dollar?pegged stablecoin issued by Bridge and launched on 30 September 2026 with about $1 billion in liquidity commitments from Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and Shopify, according to a detailed launch report. OUSD initially supports Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo and is framed as a payments stablecoin aimed at card networks and merchants rather than crypto trading alone. On launch day, Tempo reported more than $400 million in trading liquidity, although full circulating supply figures were not immediately disclosed.

OUSDs reserves are managed by traditional financial institutions including BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY Mellon, and Bridge publishes monthly reserve updates to bolster trust in its backing. These commitments mean large payment players are prepared to provide liquidity and integration support, but they have not yet promised to route all transactions through OUSD by default.

2. How OUSD Differs From Existing Stablecoins

Most large stablecoins such as Tether USDt (USDT) and USDC keep the bulk of reserve interest income for the issuer. OUSD instead shares most of that income with its partners, who can create and redeem tokens at one dollar with no fees, effectively paying them to support the network. This revenue?sharing model is designed to make card networks, processors and merchants financially motivated to adopt OUSD in their flows.

Strategically, OUSD aims at the payments segment where USDT and USDC have had limited influence. USDC is most exposed because Visa has already used USDC for settlement and Coinbase earns meaningful revenue from USDC, yet both are now OUSD partners. Ripples Ripple USD (RLUSD) also targets banks and cross?border payments, so OUSD adds another competitor in that institutional space.

3. What To Watch Next For Crypto Users

Analysts highlight two main milestones. First, whether Visa, Mastercard or Stripe make OUSD their default settlement asset for some card and merchant flows. That would quickly turn commitments into recurring transaction demand. Second, whether OUSDs supply can grow into the tens of billions of dollars by around mid?2027, a scale that would put it alongside leading stablecoins rather than a niche product.

For crypto users, it is worth tracking how Coinbase balances support between USDC and OUSD and whether exchanges list deep OUSD trading pairs. It is also important to watch regulatory treatment of payment stablecoins, since size thresholds and bank?style supervision will matter as OUSD and rivals grow.

Conclusion

Visa and Mastercard backing a $1 billion liquidity pool for Open USD signals that major payment networks are now treating stablecoins as core payments infrastructure rather than a trading side product. If OUSD converts these commitments into default settlement and large outstanding supply, it could shift value and attention away from incumbent payment stablecoins such as USDC and RLUSD, making payments rails a central battleground for stablecoin competition.