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Mastercard to offer Open USD stablecoin through its BVNK platform
The card giant is routing the consortium-backed dollar token through the stablecoin infrastructure firm it acquired in August
Mastercard plans to make Open USD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin known as OUSD, available to businesses through BVNK. BVNK is the stablecoin infrastructure company Mastercard agreed to buy earlier this year.
What Mastercard is actually doing
Open USD launched on September 30, 2026. It was built by the Open Standard consortium, not by Mastercard itself.
That distinction matters. Mastercard is acting as the distributor and the plumbing, not the issuer.
OUSD runs on several blockchains at once: Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Tempo. For businesses, that means the token can move across multiple networks rather than living on a single chain.
The consortium behind OUSD is not small. More than 200 companies have joined Open Standard, and together they are contributing more than $1 billion in near-term liquidity.
Mastercard’s stated approach is to lean on infrastructure it already has. The company is positioning itself to support different forms of value without creating new types of money on its own.
Why BVNK is the delivery vehicle
Mastercard acquired BVNK on August 3, 2026, in a deal worth up to $1.8 billion. The structure includes a $1.5 billion base price plus contingent payments of up to $300 million.
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BVNK brings real scale to the table. The company operates in more than 130 countries and processes approximately $30 billion in stablecoin payment volume each year.
It also holds more than 25 regulatory licenses. One of those is a MiCA license, which covers the European Union’s crypto rulebook.
Less than two months passed between the acquisition and OUSD’s launch.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
BVNK’s footprint in more than 130 countries gives OUSD a ready-made distribution channel. The token arrives with a large payments brand, an operating platform, and a consortium of more than 200 companies already behind it.
What this means for businesses and the stablecoin market
For the stablecoin market, the consortium model is the notable wrinkle. Rather than one company controlling issuance, OUSD is backed by a broad group, which spreads both the liquidity burden and the strategic influence.
The multi-chain launch supports Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Tempo from day one, hedging against any single network losing favor.
BVNK’s license portfolio, including MiCA, gives Mastercard existing regulatory groundwork in key markets.
The key metrics to watch from here are straightforward. How much of BVNK’s approximately $30 billion in annual volume shifts toward OUSD, how quickly the consortium’s more than $1 billion in near-term liquidity gets deployed, and whether other payment networks respond with stablecoin moves of their own.