Circle slides 13% as Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock back rival stablecoin network
Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock have backed Open Standard's Open USD, a rival stablecoin network that lets partners retain reserve income and eliminates minting fees — directly threatening Circle's USDC business model. Circle slid 13% on the news, raising the question of whether USDC's dominant market share can survive a coalition of this weight.
What happened
Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock have backed Open Standard's Open USD, a rival stablecoin network that lets partners retain reserve income and eliminates minting fees — directly threatening Circle's USDC business model.
The read · Jun 30
The launch of Open USD — backed by COIN, Stripe, and BlackRock — raises whether Coinbase benefits as a network participant or is caught in the crossfire between two competing stablecoin standards.
Wrong if
If Open USD adoption stalls and the initiative is seen as fragmenting the stablecoin market without a clear winner, COIN's dual exposure to both USDC and Open USD creates headline noise that depresses the stock; also, a broader crypto risk-off or regulatory action on stablecoins kills the trade regardless of competitive dynamics.
CoverageSource: CoinDesk · Published here TUE, JUN 30 · 10:32 AM ET · the only report in this recordHow this is decided →
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The story1 min read
Open Standard has launched Open USD, a new stablecoin network backed by three industry heavyweights — Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock — with a fundamentally different economic model than Circle's USDC. The key differentiator: Open USD lets partner institutions keep the reserve income generated by backing assets (essentially the float yield), and strips out minting fees entirely. Circle's USDC model, by contrast, retains much of that reserve income for itself, which has been the core of its revenue since rate hikes supercharged yield on cash and T-bill reserves.
Circle's shares fell 13% on the news, a sharp single-session move that reflects how existential this threat is perceived to be. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin globally, and Circle's entire IPO thesis rests on USDC volume, reserve yield, and ecosystem growth. Coinbase is particularly notable here — it has been a key USDC distribution partner through the Centre Consortium — and its pivot to also backing Open USD signals that the relationship with Circle is no longer exclusive.
The second-order tension is significant: if major on-ramps like Coinbase and payment rails like Stripe route flows through Open USD rather than USDC, Circle loses both volume and the reserve float that powers its financials. BlackRock's involvement adds a layer of institutional credibility that could accelerate enterprise adoption of Open USD at the expense of USDC.
For Coinbase itself (COIN), the picture is more nuanced. COIN reported a 526% net margin on $247M revenue (FY2025), which already reflects a high-yield crypto-market environment. If Coinbase can capture a share of Open USD's reserve economics that it previously passed to Circle, this could be incrementally positive for COIN's top line — though COIN's revenue is also highly correlated to crypto trading volumes, which is a separate driver.
What to watch: Circle's IPO timeline and revised valuation, Open USD's adoption rate among payment processors and exchanges, and whether Circle responds with a competing fee structure or reserve-sharing model to defend its partner network.
The read, in fullWhy it matters
COIN is both a backer and potential economic beneficiary of Open USD — if reserve income that previously flowed to Circle now accrues partly to Coinbase, it is a net positive for COIN's economics; the stock's 526% net margin profile shows the business already prints well in high-yield environments and any incremental float income adds directly to the bottom line. A knee-jerk selloff alongside Circle conflates two very different risk profiles. The enrichment shows COIN at $4.45 diluted EPS with strong net margins, suggesting the valuation can absorb the uncertainty.
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▲ The case it holds
Coinbase stands to capture reserve float economics previously retained by Circle under the Open USD model, turning a distribution relationship into a direct revenue stream while also benefiting from any volume growth the new network drives through Coinbase's exchange and wallet infrastructure.
▼ The case it breaks
Coinbase's existing USDC revenue-sharing arrangement with Circle (via the Centre Consortium) may be disrupted faster than Open USD generates offsetting income, creating a transitional revenue gap that the market prices in before any Open USD economics materialize.
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