Solana stablecoin lineup adds Open USD, $1 billion pledged

The Solana stablecoin lineup gained Open USD on Sept. 30, and its five founding partners have pledged more than $1 billion for its liquidity.

The quick take

Price: Solana ($SOL) at $118.01 (-1.0% ↓ in 24h) as of 6:22 p.m. ET, per CoinGecko, checked against Jupiter.
Trigger: Open USD ($OUSD) is now issued natively on Solana, with free 1:1 minting and burning for businesses.
Watch: Whether the more than 200 partner companies move real payments onto $OUSD.

What happened

Open USD ($OUSD), a dollar token run by Open Standard and issued by Bridge, went live on Solana ($SOL) on Wednesday, the Solana Foundation said. It is the newest name in the Solana stablecoin lineup.

Businesses can mint and burn $OUSD 1:1 for dollars at no cost. BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY hold its reserves, which are checked in a monthly attestation, the Foundation said.

The token is native to Solana, not a wrapped copy of a coin held elsewhere. It runs on Token-2022, the standard PayPal, Fiserv and Western Union used for their own stablecoins. CoinDesk reports that $OUSD also launched on Ethereum ($ETH), Base and Tempo the same day.

Who’s buying and selling

Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa are the five founding partners, each with an equal first stake. The group has pledged over $1 billion toward $OUSD liquidity in the months ahead, CoinDesk reports.

Open Standard CEO Zach Abrams told CoinDesk the founders may hold the token or help make markets in it. Partners earn rewards, and over time equity, based on the $OUSD supply and activity they bring in.

The wider network planning to use the token has passed 200 companies, including UBS, SBI Holdings and Jeeves.

What to watch next

The whole stablecoin market is valued at over $300 billion. Tether’s $USDT has about $143 billion in circulation and Circle’s $USDC about $74 billion, CoinDesk reports.

Solana already holds $17.4 billion in stablecoins, up 18.8% in a year, according to the Foundation. Apps on the network held $6.52 billion in total value locked as of 6:22 p.m. ET, per DefiLlama.

Bottom line: Solana gains a natively issued dollar with big payment names behind it, but daily use will decide how much it matters.