Stripe, a global payments powerhouse, has launched Open Issuance, an innovative platform that empowers businesses to create and manage their own stablecoins quickly and easily with just a few lines of code. This revolutionary service disrupts the current stablecoin market, dominated by a handful of issuers, by enabling companies to customize their coins fully and participate directly in the growing $300 billion stablecoin ecosystem.
Breaking the Stablecoin Monopoly
The stablecoin market today is largely controlled by major players such as Tether and Circle, whose tokens constitute about 85% of the total market. Stripe’s Open Issuance challenges this by giving businesses autonomy over their stablecoins from issuance to reserve management. Unlike traditional stablecoins, businesses using Open Issuance can customize the supported blockchains, smart contract functionalities, and the reserve composition, which can be balanced between cash and U.S. Treasuries through partnerships with top institutional asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity.
This newfound control allows businesses to mint and burn coins without restrictions or excessive fees, as well as generate yield on reserves that can be reinvested or used to incentivize customers. Co-founder Zach Abrams emphasizes the importance of businesses owning their stablecoins to harness the benefits and economics directly instead of relying on external providers.
Regulatory Compliance and Banking Ambitions
Stripe’s approach includes a proactive regulatory strategy, reflecting its ambition to become a fully licensed stablecoin issuer. The company is applying for a national trust charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a trust license from New York’s Department of Financial Services. These licenses will place Stripe under direct federal oversight in line with the new U.S. regulations established by the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025.
The GENIUS Act introduced strict federal reserve requirements and regulatory clarity for stablecoin issuers, fueling rapid growth in the sector. Since the law’s enactment, the market has surged by 19%, underscoring increasing mainstream acceptance and regulation of stablecoins as critical financial infrastructure.
Expanding the Digital Finance Infrastructure
The first major client to launch a stablecoin on Open Issuance is Phantom, a crypto wallet with over 15 million users, which debuted its CASH stablecoin. CASH underpins Phantom’s financial services, including instant bank funding, peer-to-peer payments, Visa debit cards, and rewards for holding stablecoins. Other projects such as Hyperliquid’s USDH and MetaMask’s mUSD stablecoins plan to migrate to the platform, creating a vibrant, interoperable network of stablecoins.
Open Issuance’s interoperability feature enables seamless one-to-one swaps between stablecoins issued on the platform, eliminating the need for centralized exchanges and reducing transaction costs and friction. This design fosters liquidity expansion and ease of use across various tokens, accelerating adoption and utility for end users.
Innovating Commerce with AI and Stablecoins
Beyond stablecoins, Stripe announced the Agentic Commerce Protocol, developed with OpenAI, enabling merchants to sell through AI-powered agents while maintaining brand control. This innovation integrates AI-driven commerce with digital currency infrastructure, positioning Stripe at the forefront of the next wave of online economy tools. Early users include Microsoft Copilot and various AI startups, highlighting the platform’s broad appeal.
Strategic Crypto Pivot and Market Impact
Stripe’s Open Issuance is the culmination of its strategic reentry into the crypto space since abandoning Bitcoin payments in 2018. The February 2025 acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company, provided the technological foundation to build this new platform. Stablecoins now facilitate $27.6 trillion in annual transfers, surpassing the combined transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard, signaling the immense scale and potential of this market
In summary, Stripe’s Open Issuance platform is reshaping the stablecoin landscape by empowering businesses with unprecedented control, regulatory compliance, and interoperability. Its combination of blockchain innovation and AI integration positions it as a pivotal enabler in the evolution of digital financial services and commerce.
