#OUSD稳定币上线 Will OUSD impact Circle and Tether?

Over 140 financial institutions jointly launched OUSD, breaking Circle's profit monopoly model and causing its stock price to plummet 17.55%.
Some observers used the Sad Frog emoji on social media to describe Circle's situation.
In response, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said that as the internet continues to reshape the global infrastructure for storing and moving money, stablecoins will become one of the largest market opportunities in the world, which is the core reason Circle was founded and continues to build the world's largest compliant stablecoin network.
USDC remains the most trusted, widely used, institution-focused stablecoin globally, with thousands of partners across banking, payments, capital markets, and enterprise sectors.
Circle will continue to expand the USDC ecosystem, including supporting more blockchain networks, improving cross-chain interoperability, and encouraging more partners to participate in sharing the economic value of the USDC network.
Circle welcomes continued innovation and competition in the stablecoin space and will continue to expand support for more USD and non-USD stablecoins across Arc, CCTP, StableFX, Circle Wallets, and CPN, promoting the construction of an internet financial system centered on stablecoins.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also posted on X: "Welcome to OUSD. Player 2 has entered the game."
The launch of OUSD has undoubtedly brought significant impact to Circle and Tether.
The stablecoin competition in the era of Circle and Tether has mainly focused on three dimensions: asset safety, regulatory compliance, and liquidity adequacy.
But the launch of OUSD introduces a fourth competitive dimension: who should the reserve yield belong to?
For Circle and Tether, the core logic is essentially the same: users deposit $1, the issuer issues 1 stablecoin, invests the reserve funds in low-risk assets such as U.S. Treasuries, and the interest belongs to the issuer.
In the high-interest-rate environment in the U.S., this logic has generated astonishing profits.
According to the plan announced by Open Standard mentioned above: the vast majority of reserve yield will not stay with the issuing institution but will be returned to alliance members.
Stripe, Visa, Coinbase, BlackRock, and more partners in the future will be able to share the yield generated from OUSD reserve assets.
Open Standard itself only charges a small management fee.
The issuer transitions from a profit center to an infrastructure operator – this is the biggest difference between OUSD and USDC/USDT.
After the news was released, Circle bore the brunt of the impact – its stock price plummeted 17.55%.
First, Circle will face the dilemma of reduced profits. OUSD's approach of allocating yield to issuers may prompt Circle to change its current model of keeping reserve yield for itself, potentially also adopting a profit-sharing route.
Second, the OUSD alliance includes giants like Coinbase, Visa, and Stripe, which are also Circle's cooperative clients. Given that allocating yield to issuers can benefit these clients, Circle may lose some existing customers.
Finally, the institutional partnership model that Circle excels at has been easily achieved by the OUSD alliance, and OUSD has yield-sharing that Circle lacks. Circle's existing business model may need to be restructured based on the latest stablecoin competition landscape, which triggered the sharp drop in Circle's stock price – essentially, the market is reassessing Circle's future value.
Tether seems not to have been significantly impacted for now, but that doesn't mean there will be no effect in the long run.
Unlike USDC, USDT has greater advantages in liquidity; global crypto trading is its significant moat, and it will be difficult for OUSD to achieve such an advantage in the short term.
Moreover, OUSD focuses more on institutional payments, merchant settlements, and cross-border remittances, so the short-term competition between them is not completely overlapping.
Additionally, Tether has always been known for its strong profitability. Tether earned over $13 billion in profits in 2024 and over $10 billion in 2025.
It has only about 300 employees, no external investors, and does not charge transaction fees for secondary market USDT transfers, meaning each employee generates approximately $33 million in profits per year on average.
If it needs to concede profits in future competition, Tether will have a greater price war advantage over Circle.
Therefore, although OUSD has caused Circle's stock price to drop sharply in the short term, it will not immediately overturn the existing stablecoin landscape. In the coming period, we may see a tripartite situation with USDT, USDC, and OUSD.
Voices of Industry Insiders
Visa's Chief Product and Strategy Officer Cuy Sheffield noted that the company is bringing its operational standards and risk management practices to the OUSD project.
Stripe's President of Technology and Business, Will Gaybrick, pointed out that OUSD will become the default stablecoin for businesses using its platform.
The Bank of New York emphasized the value of neutral, interoperable digital asset infrastructure for institutional investors.
Coinbase's Chief Business Officer Shan Agrawal stated that stablecoins are the most important thing in payments today, and they are committed to providing customers with the best choices, including Open USD and other stablecoins.
Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero: The most notable aspect of OUSD is its massive distribution capability.
Fiat on-ramps and off-ramps determine whether a stablecoin can become a true payment network, and OUSD has world-leading channel resources from day one.
DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang noted that access to cross-border income is faster and cheaper.
Conclusion
For the stablecoin space, OUSD is more of a rule-breaker. It may not immediately change the landscape of the track, but it could change its future direction.
The winner may not be the issuer with the most reserve assets, but rather the infrastructure platform that can build a complete ecosystem and connect to the global financial network.