NEW YORK CITY, New York: A consortium that includes Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase has launched a new global stablecoin initiative aimed at expanding the use of digital tokens for businesses and payments worldwide.

The venture, called Open Standard, brings together more than 140 businesses and will issue a new U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, Open USD, expected to go live later this year.

The consortium said the initiative is designed to accelerate global stablecoin adoption by addressing the challenges businesses face in scaling the use of digital tokens.

"Existing stablecoins have great strengths, but to use them at scale, businesses need something open, low-cost, high-throughput, broadly accessible, and aligned to their interests," Open Standard founding CEO Zach Abrams said.

The platform will allow businesses to mint and redeem Open USD without fees or volume limits, making it easier to build large-scale payment applications. Income generated from the reserves backing the stablecoin will be shared among participating partners after deducting a management fee to cover operating costs.

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a fixed value by being backed by traditional currencies such as the U.S. dollar or euro.

The launch comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law last year, establishing the first federal framework for regulating stablecoins. The legislation was widely seen as an important step toward encouraging broader use of digital assets for everyday payments and money transfers.

Despite growing interest, stablecoins are still used primarily to facilitate trading in other cryptocurrencies rather than for routine consumer or business payments.

"A stablecoin with neutral governance and shared economics is a unique combination that has potential to unlock the next phase of digital assets growth," BNY Chief Product and Innovation Officer Carolyn Weinberg said.

The launch also follows earlier industry efforts to build global stablecoin infrastructure, including the creation of the Global Dollar Network by a group of fintech and cryptocurrency companies in 2024.