Circle Internet Group just learned what it feels like to be the incumbent. On June 30, shares of the USDC issuer plummeted 13-15% to around $65-66 after a consortium of more than 140 companies, including some of Circle’s closest partners, announced a rival dollar-backed stablecoin called Open USD (OUSD).

The names on the consortium’s roster read less like a startup pitch deck and more like a who’s who of global finance: Coinbase, BlackRock, and Visa. That’s Circle’s largest distribution partner, its biggest asset management ally, and one of the world’s dominant payment networks, all backing a product designed to compete directly with USDC.

What Open USD actually changes

Unlike USDC or Tether’s USDT, which are each controlled by a single issuing entity, Open USD operates under a consortium governance model. The more consequential detail is the revenue-sharing model. Under the current arrangement, Circle paid Coinbase $908 million in a single recent year as a distribution fee for hosting USDC on its platform. Open USD flips that dynamic by letting participating firms retain earnings on reserves directly, rather than routing payments through a single issuer.

OUSD is set to launch later in 2026, initially operating on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network, and Solana. The choice of Base is particularly notable given that Coinbase both operates that blockchain and was previously Circle’s most important USDC distribution channel.

Why Circle’s stock took the hit it did

The market reaction was swift and unambiguous. Circle’s stock dropped to its lowest level since late February 2026, erasing weeks of gains in a single session. As of June 25, USDC had approximately $73.6 billion in circulation, a base built partly on partnerships with the very companies now backing a competitor.

The timing compounds the pain. Earlier in June, reports surfaced that Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard had briefly explored launching their own stablecoin before the consortium approach took shape.

The bigger picture for stablecoin markets

For Coinbase specifically, the move represents a calculated bet. Walking away from $908 million in annual USDC distribution payments is not a decision made lightly. The implicit wager is that owning a share of governance in a new stablecoin, one running on Coinbase’s own blockchain, generates more long-term value than collecting fees as a middleman for Circle’s product.

BlackRock’s involvement adds a different dimension. The world’s largest asset manager has been steadily deepening its crypto exposure, from Bitcoin ETFs to tokenized money market funds. Backing a consortium stablecoin aligns with its broader strategy of building institutional-grade crypto infrastructure rather than relying on third-party issuers.

If OUSD captures even a modest share of USDC’s $73.6 billion circulation, the revenue impact flows straight to Circle’s top line. And with its own former partners driving that shift, Circle may find that the relationships it built to dominate the stablecoin market are the same ones now being used to unseat it.