OpenUSD's partner roster has come under scrutiny following a July 3 Chosun Biz report that revealed confusion over which Korean companies are truly committed to the stablecoin alliance. According to the report, Samsung Electronics stated there had been no official consultations and did not know what role it would play. Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and Kbank were described as saying Open Standard had asked about their willingness to participate and would review it, but their names were included as consortium members. Another company representative said they learned through Korean media that they had been included, creating uncertainty about the actual level of commitment from these major financial institutions. The report highlights that participating companies can mint and redeem without stated fees or issuance limits, but the confusion over formal participation versus reviewing the model creates a critical credibility gap.
Yield-bearing stablecoins experienced remarkable growth, expanding roughly 300% last year according to reports from CoinDesk. The segment is projected to more than triple to over $50 billion in 2026, as reported by 21Shares. Platforms that previously offered no returns on idle balances are now announcing 3% or 4% returns every few weeks. However, according to Artem Tolkachev, Chief RWA Officer at Falcon Finance, this focus on yield may be misguided.
As reported by CoinDesk, Tolkachev argues that collateral acceptance, not yield, determines whether stablecoins get used rather than parked. The critical question is whether trading, borrowing, and hedging venues will accept the token as collateral. This includes whether it can be posted as margin on exchanges, receive sensible loan-to-value ratios in lending markets, and move across venues without excessive haircuts that render it irrelevant. The practical benefits of collateral tokenisation are already being demonstrated in real-world applications, with firms generating value through improved collateral management, mobility, and optimisation across different entities.
OpenUSD operates under a reserve-sharing model where participating corporations deposit dollars into Open Standard's reserve account, Open Standard mints one OUSD, and the corporation can redeem by returning the token for the dollar in its bank account. According to Chosun Biz, participating companies can mint and redeem without stated fees or issuance limits. Open Standard's site adds that OUSD is designed to return most reserve-generated revenue, minus a small management fee, to participants that adopt and distribute the stablecoin. The network asks businesses to treat the stablecoin less as an external product and more as shared financial infrastructure whose use can feed revenue back to the companies that distribute it. This economic model is designed to create open infrastructure for global financial activity, with reserves maintained at major financial institutions in compliance with US regulatory requirements.
The governance question is central to OpenUSD's credibility, as reported by Chosun Biz. Participating companies would not join through a DAO structure or as shareholders, with Open Standard operating as an independent company with ownership and corporate governance designed to make decisions in the collective interest. The site states that governance is collaborative and overseen by Open Standard's independent management team. However, practical questions remain about what rights listed companies have regarding reserve policy, technical changes, compliance standards, partner admission, revenue allocation, or launch timing. The tension is clear: a coalition stablecoin cannot use a large partner count as proof of institutional distribution unless the market can distinguish formal participants from companies reviewing the model.
According to CoinDesk, Tolkachev warns that tens of billions of dollars in new stablecoin supply are being added on the assumption that supply equals genuine adoption. He predicts that if this supply arrives while exchange and venue risk teams maintain existing collateral frameworks, the result will be stranded collateral - tens of billions of dollars technically live but going nowhere. The author concludes that while $50 billion is coming, the critical question is how much of it will actually do meaningful work in the financial system. For coalition stablecoins like OpenUSD, the credibility threshold has become higher, as partner verification is the bridge between announcement and actual adoption. A stablecoin can advertise hundreds of potential distribution points, but users and counterparties need to know which names are formal participants and which are prepared to put the stablecoin into actual payments, trading, settlement, or treasury workflows. The next useful disclosure would be simple: a roster that separates formal participants from companies reviewing participation, a definition of each role, and a clear account of what adoption means before launch.
