Visa CEO downplays Open USD threat to Tether and USDC

Visa Chief Executive Ryan McInerney said the payments company will remain neutral among stablecoins as Open USD prepares to enter a market led by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Summary Visa says its stablecoin strategy will remain multi-coin and multi-chain rather than backing one winner. Open USD plans to launch later this year with more than 140 participating global companies. Visa’s stablecoin platform initially supports Open USD while retaining interoperability with existing settlement products worldwide. During Visa’s July 28 fiscal third-quarter earnings call, McInerney said the company would remain “multi-coin, multi-chain” and that its role was “not to pick winners.” Instead, Visa plans to help clients connect securely to whichever stablecoins, networks and infrastructure gain adoption. Visa separates Open USD support from a single-token bet Visa is one of more than 140 companies supporting Open Standard, the independent consortium developing Open USD. Other participants include Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY, Google and several global banks. However, McInerney’s comments show that Visa does not view its involvement as an exclusive commitment to OUSD. The co...