Circle CEO回应OUSD挑战：稳定币“赢家通吃”，联盟模式注定失败

Original article from Circle Founder & CEO Jeremy Allaire

Compiled by Odaily (@QinXiaofeng 888 )

Editor's Note: On June 30, the stablecoin project Open Standard, backed by 140 globally renowned companies, was officially announced, with plans to launch a new USD stablecoin, Open USD, later this year, targeting Circle (USDC). Circle (NYSE: CRCL) shares briefly plunged over 17%, causing an uproar among investors. Founder & CEO Jeremy Allaire could no longer stay silent and published a lengthy post to boost confidence.

He stated that the stablecoin market is a "winner-takes-most" landscape, where USDC has long dominated due to its application integrations, global liquidity, and regulatory compliance built over nearly a decade. He argued that OUSD's proposed models of fee-free redemptions, revenue sharing, and consortium governance are impractical and may undermine infrastructure investment and efficiency. Following this news, Circle (NYSE: CRCL) shares rebounded by 4% on July 1 but ultimately closed down 1.09%.

The following is a compilation of two recent tweets from Jeremy Allaire, organized by Odaily. Enjoy~

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We've received many questions from the investor community asking for our view on OUSD, so I wanted to share my perspective directly here.

Stablecoin networks are platform-based, network-effect-driven businesses that require long-term accumulation and tend toward a "winner-takes-most" market structure, similar to other internet platform utility markets. Several factors drive this phenomenon.

First, stablecoin networks effectively serve as an internet public protocol and software layer. Their network strength depends on the quantity and scope of applications and services integrated into the network. Every time a developer or service provider integrates, it generates more network effects, attracting more developers, adding more utility, and further strengthening these advantages through liquidity network effects on the digital currency itself.

We have already achieved this at scale on the USDC network — thousands of services are integrated, delivering immense utility to each application and great convenience to all users, who benefit from the existing coverage and interoperability. This further drives user and developer preference. We have spent nearly a decade building this ecosystem, and this process is accelerating as mainstream institutions connect their customers and users to the network.

We continue to enhance and expand the network by building software stacks — such as CCTP and Gateway protocols — which foster interoperability, security, and liquidity globally. This expands the target coverage for application builders and developers, enabling them to easily tap into existing liquidity and network effects. Now, this software stack is being introduced into various chains, permissioned L2s, government-built networks, and more.

Second, liquidity network effects are fundamental. Liquidity begets liquidity. To achieve scale and utility, a stablecoin must have high liquidity — both in the primary market (e.g., top-tier direct bank liquidity through major global financial centers) and in the secondary market, providing accessible, tradable liquidity for retail and institutional clients across regions, connected to various fiat instruments globally. Those seeking to acquire or transfer value must be able to enter and exit the digital currency easily.

We have spent nearly a decade building this liquidity, now deeply embedded in exchanges, DeFi platforms, PSPs, payment companies, regional exchanges, and more. Building these liquidity network effects also involves constructing a global regulatory infrastructure to ensure the stablecoin is usable under different regimes worldwide. Today, USDC is one of the three most liquid digital assets globally, with a clear lead over newer entrants. BTC, USDT, and USDC have extremely high liquidity; the closest other USD stablecoin is about a tenth of USDC's size, with liquidity often concentrated on a single exchange's order book. In contrast, USDC's liquidity is broadly dispersed across dozens of platforms. Building this liquidity has been a decade-long task that continues.

Third, network effects come from deep integration with policy and regulatory environments. This often results from years of obtaining licenses (e.g., USDC is currently the only major global stablecoin fully usable across Europe or Japan), and more stablecoin regulatory frameworks are emerging — Circle is at the forefront of ensuring USDC gains official recognition, registration, licensing, and acceptance in the world's most important markets. This also involves building global banking, reserve management, treasury, and liquidity management systems that operate nearly around the clock across global markets and banking systems. This globalization effort is a massive ongoing project we have invested in for years.

All these investments by Circle and our ecosystem of thousands of global partners result in the world's most trusted and accessible digital dollar infrastructure — a utility that any user, developer, or business can freely and easily access, and we have no intention of slowing down.

All these factors compound and are reflected in the data. According to Artemis, a third-party analytics firm tracking stablecoin adoption, in Q1 2026, USDC processed nearly $30 trillion in on-chain transaction volume, accounting for 80% of all USD stablecoin transactions on blockchains. USDT handled the remaining 20%, and all other USD stablecoins combined accounted for 0% (i.e., below 0.5%). While other stablecoins may have some circulating supply, much of it comes from promotional and incentive activities, with actual usage extremely limited due to minimal liquidity and network utility.

The above not only highlights Circle's network advantages but also outlines the challenges any new entrant must face. Of course, I've also heard voices claiming OUSD is superior to USDC in many ways.

(1) Free Minting and Redemption. Some argue that existing stablecoins charge redemption fees, which payment companies shouldn't bear (though the entire payment industry is built on charging small bps fees at network entry and exit points). The structural reality of the market is that some stablecoins charge very high redemption fees and have limited redemption facilities. The effect is that stablecoins with good redemption facilities, ample liquidity, and zero fees can become exit channels for competitor stablecoins. Saying "offer unlimited free redemptions" seems easy, but market realities may force a change in behavior. Circle addresses this through contractual mechanisms rather than blanket fee waivers, and we have resolved it.

(2) Win-Win for All, Shared Revenue. This sounds wonderful, but the market reality is quite different. Today, Circle shares most of its revenue with distribution partners and continues to aggressively expand collaborations with leading companies across industries. At the same time, we retain meaningful revenue to invest in the large-scale market infrastructure that makes this network a powerful and valuable utility for global builders. Giving away all revenue would essentially starve the infrastructure, leading to systemic underinvestment, ultimately limiting the platform's breadth. (Odaily note: In Q1 2026, Circle's revenue was $694 million, with distribution costs of $407 million, accounting for 59%.)

Furthermore, Circle believes the future stablecoin market could be orders of magnitude larger than today. We are actively bringing more partners into the USDC ecosystem through a diverse and growing partner model, covering exchanges, custodians, payment companies, and asset issuers. We are happy to continue building with a "Big tent mentality," letting the entire ecosystem create value together. (Odaily note: The "Big tent mentality" is a political and organizational strategy where a party, company, or institution seeks to attract the broadest possible group by including diverse and even opposing views and factions, gathering the largest consensus through common ground while setting aside differences, thereby gaining more support or market share.)

(3) Consortium with a Voice for Everyone. Perhaps I'm pessimistic, but the track record of consortium-type products in achieving scale, product-market fit, and even basic product agility is absolutely disappointing. While there are examples of financial alliances operating utilities, they are often slow-moving. Large groups of companies with misaligned incentives and poor coordination drag down progress, rarely creating space for lasting innovation and competitiveness. Moreover, they often act in their own self-interest, leaving the alliance resource-starved operationally.

We actually tried this approach early on with USDC, and even with few participants, we encountered countless challenges and complexities. Smaller, tighter strategic collaborations and commercial arrangements, led by product and platform builders who can move independently, almost always outperform large alliances. But often, when such alliances form, everyone feels they must list their logo, make a statement, and loudly proclaim openness. However, these companies typically eventually turn to their operational teams to make the best decisions for their customers — which often means partnering with market leaders for lasting win-win relationships.

There are also many comments about Circle's partnership with Coinbase and what it all means. Our stablecoin partnership with Coinbase remains as strong as ever, and I believe we both see significant opportunities in expanding the USDC network.

One final note: Circle has always been committed to supporting a wide range of products and infrastructure, even if we compete with partners' products in certain areas. We work closely with many founding members of OUSD, and we expect these members will continue to be important partners and clients for USDC. At the same time, as Circle diversifies our product and platform stack into areas like Arc, CCTP, CPN, StableFX, Agent Stack, and more, we are also expanding collaboration with dozens of other stablecoin issuers, helping them issue on Arc, utilize our interoperability infrastructure, gain support in our wallets, and serve as settlement and FX options on CPN and StableFX.

We are firmly bullish on the growth of the stablecoin ecosystem and welcome OUSD as a new member of the community!