The fee structure and partner revenue-sharing model for the OUSD stablecoin, which has backing from entities including Stripe, have been disclosed. OUSD charges a management fee of 0.1 basis points (bp) per transaction, capped at $0.01 per payment. Almost all of the reserve yield generated by OUSD is distributed to its partners.
Open Standard is the governance company behind OUSD. The stablecoin officially launched on September 30th. OUSD reserves are held by institutions such as BlackRock, Lead Bank, and BNY Mellon. Over 200 financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises are listed as partners.
For transactions, OUSD imposes a management fee rate of 0.1 basis points. This fee is capped at $0.01 per transaction. For instance, a cross-border payment of $1,000,000 would incur a fee of $0.01 under OUSD’s structure, a significant reduction compared to a potential $10 fee if calculated solely at 0.1 bp. This fee structure aims to make stablecoin costs predictable, similar to fiat currency, and compress settlement costs.
In addition to transaction fees, OUSD distributes nearly all of its reserve yield to partners. An equity earn-in pool is also available for partners who meet a minimum threshold of $50 million in stablecoins. This model is described as a more extreme version of revenue sharing compared to Circle’s USDC and directly impacts Tether’s primary profit source, which is reserve interest.
Visa has released technical implementation guides for integrating OUSD through its Stablecoin Platform (VSP). OUSD is natively issued on the Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Tempo chains. It is also available on exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.
Circle previously reported paying out $819 million in partner and transaction costs for USDC during the first half of the year. CoinShares has indicated that OUSD’s shared revenue model represents a significant challenge to Circle.
While OUSD’s model offers potential cost savings and incentives for partners, uncertainties remain regarding the long-term sustainability of its revenue-sharing approach and its ultimate impact on the market share of established stablecoins like USDC and USDT. The extent to which Asian exchanges and payment providers will adopt OUSD’s equity pool and fee structure is also a point of consideration.
Why This Matters
The materials describe a narrow update: The fee structure and partner revenue-sharing model for the OUSD stablecoin, backed by Stripe and other payment giants, have been disclosed. The long-term sustainability of OUSD’s extreme revenue-sharing model.
Broader Context
Source materials place the factual news in this context: Visa announced a new stablecoin platform that seamlessly integrates OUSD and USDC for instant settlement.
