Visa Chief Executive Ryan McInerney said the payments company will remain neutral among stablecoins as Open USD prepares to enter a market led by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.
Summary
- Visa says its stablecoin strategy will remain multi-coin and multi-chain rather than backing one winner.
- Open USD plans to launch later this year with more than 140 participating global companies.
- Visa’s stablecoin platform initially supports Open USD while retaining interoperability with existing settlement products worldwide.
During Visa’s July 28 fiscal third-quarter earnings call, McInerney said the company would remain “multi-coin, multi-chain” and that its role was “not to pick winners.” Instead, Visa plans to help clients connect securely to whichever stablecoins, networks and infrastructure gain adoption.
Visa separates Open USD support from a single-token bet
Visa is one of more than 140 companies supporting Open Standard, the independent consortium developing Open USD. Other participants include Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY, Google and several global banks.
However, McInerney’s comments show that Visa does not view its involvement as an exclusive commitment to OUSD. The company already supports several stablecoins and blockchains through settlement, card and money-movement products. Visa previously described its technical approach as a “multi-coin and multi-chain foundation.”
ARK Invest researcher Lorenzo Valente interpreted the response as evidence that partner support may be “closer to a soft LOI than a strategic bet.” That is an analyst’s view, not a disclosed Visa contract term. Neither Visa nor Open Standard has published commitments showing how much capital, distribution or balance-sheet support each partner must provide.
Open Standard plans to launch Open USD later in 2026. Its website says businesses will be able to mint and redeem OUSD without fees or volume limits, while most revenue from the reserves will return to participants that adopt and distribute the token.
That model differs from the issuer-led structures used by USDT and USDC, where the issuing company controls reserve management and related economics. Open Standard says an independent management team and partner-led governance will oversee OUSD. These are planned product features, and the token has not yet launched.
Notably, Open USD’s launch raised questions about Circle’s reserve-income model. Circle shares fell 17.5% on June 30, although Russell index removals also contributed to that day’s decline, making it difficult to isolate OUSD’s effect.
Visa is building infrastructure across stablecoins
Visa’s practical commitment is clearer in its own product releases. On July 16, the company introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform for banks, fintechs and crypto companies. The platform initially provides access to Open USD, including minting, burning, storage and transfers through a Visa-managed environment.
The company said the platform will also connect with its existing stablecoin settlement, linked-card and money-movement services. In June, Visa reported that its stablecoin settlement activity had reached an annualized run rate of about $7 billion as of March 2026.
Additionally, Visa’s stablecoin platform was described as a route for institutions to use Open USD without building every wallet, security and treasury function internally. Visa’s broader structure could also allow it to serve clients choosing USDC, USDT or another regulated token.
Open USD’s launch will test partner commitment
Open Standard has not announced an exact launch date, initial circulating supply or confirmed transaction volume. Because OUSD is not yet live, there is no verified on-chain activity or market capitalization to compare with USDT and USDC.
The next test will be whether partners integrate OUSD into real payment, settlement and trading products after launch. Visa has already built an initial access route through its platform, but McInerney’s comments indicate the company will continue supporting competing tokens and networks.
Therefore, Open USD may gain distribution through Visa without becoming Visa’s exclusive stablecoin. Adoption will depend on reserve arrangements, regulatory compliance, partner integrations and actual customer demand rather than the size of the consortium alone.
