A consortium of 21 financial institutions led by Goldman Sachs, Citi and Bank of America will establish a venture in late 2026 to mint a dollar-pegged token on public chains, with a euro version planned next. Issuing outside private bank networks removes the distribution moat that has kept Tether and Circle dominant.
Twenty-one of the world's largest banks and asset managers, including Goldman Sachs, Citi and Bank of America, agreed Sept. 1 to form a company that will issue a dollar-denominated stablecoin on public blockchains, targeting a first-half 2027 launch.
"US banks could outperform us early in the American market," Paolo Ardoino, chief executive of Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, said after the US GENIUS Act took effect last year.
The unnamed venture, due to be established in the second half of 2026 subject to closing conditions, spans 21 institutions across North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Members include Deutsche Bank, UBS, Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments, Santander, BBVA, MUFG and Standard Bank. The group grew from the ten banks that floated the idea in October 2025 and plans to extend issuance to other G7 currencies, naming a euro token as its next priority. It enters a market Tether still dominates with more than $180 billion in dollar-pegged tokens outstanding, while Société Générale's dollar stablecoin has drawn only about $12.5 million in circulation.
The decision to issue on public blockchains rather than a private bank network is what most directly threatens Circle and Tether, because it removes the distribution edge the incumbents built by wiring USDC and USDT into exchanges, wallets and DeFi protocols. A stablecoin — a token pegged one-to-one to a fiat currency and backed by reserves — minted by banks with existing customer relationships and payment infrastructure can reach wholesale and retail users through the same rails the issuers already control, without first winning over crypto-native venues.
The consortium said the token will comply with the US GENIUS Act and Europe's MiCA where applicable. The law, signed July 18, 2025, requires one-to-one backing by eligible liquid reserves, redemption protections and regular disclosure, and bars issuers from paying interest solely for holding the coin. Several implementing rules remain unfinished after agencies missed a July 18, 2026 deadline, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency targeting November 2026 for final rules — a timeline that lands just before the consortium's launch window. A future euro-denominated token would fall under MiCA's electronic money token category, subjecting it to authorization, reserve and redemption requirements in the bloc.
A separate European push is already underway. Qivalis, a bank consortium building a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin for the second half of 2026, has grown to 37 members, with some banks, including BBVA, in both efforts. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has warned that privately issued stablecoins pose risks to monetary policy and financial stability.
The venture has not disclosed which public blockchains it will support, where reserves will be held, or whether customers can hold and transfer the token directly or must do so through participating institutions. Those details, along with the company's name and token branding, will determine how the consortium's distribution reach translates into circulation once the dollar coin launches in the first half of 2027.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
