Open Standard Sets OUSD Fee at 0.1 Basis Points and Opens Equity Pool to Partners
Open Standard, the governance entity behind the OpenUSD (OUSD) stablecoin, will charge 0.1 basis points on payment volume capped at $0.01 per transaction, and is offering partners equity tied to holdings and payment flows. The model passes reserve yield to partners rather than retaining it, a structure that departs from the approach of Tether and Circle.
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The Fee Schedule
Open Standard will charge 0.1 basis points, or 0.001%, on OUSD payment volume, with each transaction capped at $0.01. Both CoinDesk and Crypto Briefing report the same figures, based on documents CoinDesk saw. Under that schedule, any payment above $1,000 pays the full one-cent cap, while smaller payments pay proportionally less.
Reserve Yield and the Revenue Model
The management fee is Open Standard's main revenue line. Yield earned on OUSD reserves is passed to partners, minus that fee. Crypto Briefing frames this as a departure from the standard issuer model, in which Tether and Circle, the issuers of USDT and USDC, generally keep reserve interest for themselves. Neither source provides a reserve yield rate or a distribution schedule, so the size of the partner payout cannot yet be estimated from the reporting.
The Equity Earn-In Pool
Partners can earn equity in Open Standard based on their OUSD holdings and payment flows. To qualify, a partner must hold at least $50 million in OUSD, and any single partner's ownership through the pool is capped at 5%. Crypto Briefing describes the cap as a safeguard against any one firm gaining control of the governance entity. The reporting does not say how equity is priced, how quickly it vests, or how many partners are expected to qualify.
Launch Details and Founding Partners
OUSD launched on September 30, 2026, across Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo. Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and Shopify each committed more than $1 billion in launch liquidity, according to the reporting. Visa also released more than 100 pages of technical implementation and user guidance for partner firms, which Crypto Briefing notes arrived alongside the fee and equity documents.
Who the Structure Favors
The $50 million threshold is set high enough that large institutions can meet it easily, while smaller fintechs and merchants may not. Both outlets describe smaller participants as still able to use the low-fee payment rails, but without a path to ownership at that threshold. Open Standard's own revenue depends on very high transaction counts, since each payment yields at most one cent, which makes sustained network volume central to the model.
Variables to Watch
The reporting points to three factors that will determine how the arrangement works in practice: how much reserve yield is actually distributed to partners, how quickly firms reach the $50 million qualification level, and how the 5% ownership cap shapes governance as the equity pool fills.
Why It Matters
For Traders
OUSD's low per-payment fee and partner-directed reserve yield could shift routing decisions for large payment flows, though no trading venue or price impact is reported yet.
For Investors
A stablecoin model that shares reserve yield with partners and offers equity to them signals a different economic structure from Tether and Circle, and its success depends on transaction volume.
For Builders
Developers integrating payment rails should evaluate the fee schedule and Visa's partner documentation, since the $50 million equity threshold and per-payment cap affect how the network is priced for different transaction sizes.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
