Circle stock fell more than 17 percent on Tuesday following the unveiling of Open USD, a new stablecoin backed by over 140 companies including Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock.
The drop came after Open Standard announced the project, which is designed to let participating firms retain reserve earnings and mint tokens without fees. The initiative is led by Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge, and targets the economics of existing issuers like Circle's USDC.
Circle shares closed below 63 dollars, their lowest level since late February. USDC holds a market capitalization of roughly 73 billion dollars.
Jeremy Allaire, Circle's chief executive, said the company welcomes competition and will focus on building stablecoin infrastructure. Analysts noted that similar past consortium efforts have struggled to gain significant market share.
The stablecoin is scheduled to launch later in 2026.
