Open USD Launches as Stripe’s Default Stablecoin

The notable signal here is not another stablecoin launch but the distribution stack forming around it: a payments giant defaulting to it, a card network routing through a third-party infrastructure provider, and a rival card network testing access. That pattern suggests stablecoin settlement is being absorbed into existing card and payment rails rather than competing with them, which matters for the infrastructure providers positioned between issuers and merchants. Whether the staggered rollout — limited beta at one network, a scheduled exchange listing later — translates into genuine multi-rail volume is the open question.