Visa Launches Stablecoin Platform Backed by Open USD, Pressuring Circle

Visa launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP) on 16 July, giving banks, fintechs and crypto firms a single managed service through which they can issue, store, transfer and redeem stablecoins over Visa’s existing payments network. The initial rollout supports Open USD (OpenUSD), a stablecoin from Open Standard whose backers include Visa, BlackRock, Alphabet and Coinbase. The platform bundles wallet infrastructure, minting and redemption tooling, blockchain connectivity, and security controls including dual-approval workflows, audit logs and transfer allow lists.

The operational pitch is integration rather than replacement: institutions can layer stablecoin-based settlement and treasury products on top of systems they already run, rather than rebuilding from scratch. Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, framed the gap not as conceptual but operational, characterising the hard part for institutions as execution rather than understanding. That framing positions VSP as an outsourcing layer for the plumbing that most issuers and distributors would otherwise build themselves.

Open Standard’s fee structure sharpens the competitive angle. The consortium eliminates minting and redemption fees and returns nearly all reserve income to distribution partners, a model that, if it scales, would shift stablecoin economics away from issuers and toward distributors. Circle, whose USDC is the world’s second-largest stablecoin, saw its shares fall approximately 5% on Thursday, extending pressure that began when Open Standard was first announced. The likelier read is that investors are repricing the durability of issuer-side economics as distribution-led models gain institutional backing at this scale.