Twenty-one banks and asset managers form USD stablecoin consortium targeting 2027 launch
Key points
- Twenty-one institutions have committed to form a company to issue a USD stablecoin, with a market launch targeted for the first half of 2027.
- The consortium's G-SIB membership has grown from ten to 17, with eight original members retained and newcomers including BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Lloyds, Wells Fargo, and Standard Bank among others.
- Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree join as asset manager members, both already operating regulated stablecoin issuance entities, FIDD and USDW respectively.
- A new company is to be formed in the second half of 2025, subject to closing conditions, with euro issuance named as the priority expansion after USD.
- Target use cases span wholesale, institutional, and retail markets, signalling ambitions that extend beyond pure interbank or settlement applications.
Twenty-one financial institutions have committed to establish a company that will issue a US dollar stablecoin, with a market launch targeted for the first half of 2027. The group traces its origins to an exploratory phase announced last October by ten global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), eight of which remain: Banco Santander, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank, and UBS. Thirteen institutions have since joined, bringing the G-SIB count to 17 and the overall bank count to 18, alongside two US asset managers and an Abu Dhabi conglomerate subsidiary. The new company is expected to be incorporated in the second half of this year, subject to closing conditions, with euro-denominated issuance cited as the priority expansion after the initial USD product.
The expanded membership shifts the consortium’s character considerably. Earlier, it was an exclusively G-SIB affair; it now includes non-systemic banks such as BBVA, Capital One, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Lloyds, PNC, Scotiabank, Rabobank, Wells Fargo, and Standard Bank, as well as asset managers Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree, and Sirius International Holding, a subsidiary of an Abu Dhabi conglomerate. Fidelity already issues the FIDD stablecoin through its federally chartered national trust bank, and WisdomTree issues USDW under a New York trust charter, meaning two consortium members arrive with live, regulated issuance infrastructure in place.
Their participation raises a pointed question for the group’s structure: whether either firm’s existing regulated entity could serve as the issuance vehicle for the consortium rather than building a new one. More broadly, the decision by established stablecoin issuers to join a multi-institution effort suggests the industry has concluded that no single institution’s coin can independently achieve the network effects needed for widespread adoption. Potential use cases span wholesale, institutional, and retail markets, indicating ambitions well beyond interbank settlement alone.