21 Financial Institutions to Establish Stablecoin Company, Aiming for IPO in H1 2027
21 international financial institutions have committed to establishing a new company in the second half of 2026 to support the issuance of stablecoins backed by bank-grade governance and 1:1 reserves; the first product is planned to be a USD stablecoin, aiming for an IPO in the first half of 2027.
The company has not yet been named, and its establishment is contingent on the completion of transaction conditions. The project plans to operate globally, prioritizing the launch of a euro stablecoin after the USD stablecoin, and gradually expanding to other G7 currency-denominated products; the announcement did not disclose the public blockchain to be used, the location of the issuing entity, the composition of reserve assets, the auditing agency, or the capital contribution ratios of each member.
Participating institutions span North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. North American members include Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, PNC, Scotiabank, TD Bank, Wells Fargo, and WisdomTree; European members include Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds, Rabobank, and UBS. MUFG Bank, Sirius International Holding, and Standard Bank represent East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, respectively.
The project is positioned to cover wholesale, institutional, and retail use cases, with initial focuses including cross-border payments and digital asset trading settlements. Members state that the plan will combine bank-grade compliance, governance, distribution capabilities, and institutional risk management, and aims to meet the regulatory requirements of the US GENIUS Act and the EU MiCA within its applicable scope.
The plan began in October 2025, when 10 banks explored issuing digital currencies usable on public blockchains, supported by 1:1 reserves; the number of participants has now expanded to 21. It does not indicate that stablecoins have been issued or that members have begun selling products to customers, as reserve arrangements, redemption mechanisms, and jurisdictional permissions still need to be determined after the company's establishment and regulatory implementation.
The core commitment of the stablecoin is that holders can redeem it at face value for the corresponding fiat currency value, thus the credit quality of the issuer depends on the safety of reserve assets, isolation arrangements, redemption speed, audit disclosures, and bankruptcy disposal rules. Although the banking consortium possesses compliance and distribution capabilities, multi-party governance may also prolong the cycles for product decision-making, cross-border compliance, and technical route unification; the announcement has not provided final answers to these key mechanisms.
In market mechanisms, institutional buyers will use it for cross-border settlement, on-chain margin, tokenized asset delivery, and 24-hour fund allocation tools; if the product gains access from bank clients and trading platforms, funds may flow from agent banks' pre-funding, traditional wire transfers, and some existing stablecoin balances into the consortium network. Beneficiaries include member banks controlling customer accounts, custody, redemption channels, and compliance entry; existing stablecoin issuers will face direct competition from bank brands, regulatory access, and institutional distribution capabilities.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
This project is not the first attempt by banks to explore on-chain currency. JPMorgan launched JPM Coin in 2019, which later evolved into Kinexys Digital Payments, primarily serving internal fund transfers for institutional clients and within licensed networks; the exploration by 10 banks in October 2025 specifically targeted a jointly issued stablecoin that is usable on public blockchains and supported by 1:1 reserves. The establishment of an independent company by 21 institutions signifies that the banking industry is shifting from individual closed ledger experiments to competing for public payment assets that can circulate across institutions.
The focus of the capital path is not to profit solely from stablecoin interest spreads, but to maintain relationships in payment settlements and customer deposits. If the USD stablecoin accumulates a large reserve, the reserve assets can generate interest income; more importantly, the issuer can bring cross-border payments, foreign exchange, custody, on-chain settlements, trade financing, and tokenized securities delivery back under bank-controlled compliance. The consortium's choice to first issue USD and then euro reflects the existing advantages of the USD settlement network and global crypto liquidity, while also attempting to keep the euro on-chain payment infrastructure within the European banking system.
It can be compared with Circle's USDC, Tether's USDT, and the European banking alliance Qivalis. USDC and USDT already have liquidity networks formed by exchanges, DeFi, and cross-border transfers, but face competition from bank deposits, payment licenses, and regulatory applicability; Qivalis is driven by European banks, aiming for a euro stablecoin regulated by MiCA. The difference of this alliance of 21 institutions lies in its coverage of the US, Europe, and other regions, with members including large commercial banks and asset management institutions, but its product has not yet been issued and is currently in the stages of alliance building, governance design, and regulatory coordination.
Essentially, it represents a transfer of pricing power: the stablecoin primarily changes not the currency unit, but the settlement time, customer entry, and control over reserve assets. Traditional cross-border payments are defined by agent bank chains, business hours, and pre-funded accounts; on-chain stablecoins attempt to compress settlements into 24/7 transfers. If banks do not participate, they may cede payment interfaces, on-chain liquidity, and customer data to non-bank issuers and trading platforms; if the joint issuance is successful, it could rebind these new interfaces to the bank's KYC, redemption, and clearing networks.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
The competition for stablecoins is not about the type of currency, but the settlement entry.
Whoever controls the redemption channel controls the credit of on-chain currency.
Banks do not lack the ability to issue coins, but lack common liquidity.