21 banks consortium plans stablecoin launch in first half of 2027

The biggest names in global banking have decided they want a piece of the stablecoin market. A consortium of 21 major financial institutions announced plans on September 1 to establish a new company that will issue a USD-denominated stablecoin, with a market launch targeted for the first half of 2027. The group includes heavyweights like Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and UBS. From exploratory talks to full commitment This initiative didn’t materialize overnight. The consortium traces its roots to October 2025, when 10 global systemically important banks, known as G-SIBs, began an exploratory phase to assess the feasibility of a bank-issued stablecoin. That group has since nearly doubled. The coalition now includes 17 G-SIBs and 18 banks in total, with the remaining members drawn from other significant financial institutions. The plan calls for the issuing company to be formally established in the second half of 2026, giving the consortium roughly six months to build the corporate structure before flipping the switch on actual stablecoin issuance. The initial use cases will span wholesale, institutional, and retail payments, with a particular emphasis on cross...