HTX Ventures analyzes Open USD: How stablecoin gains and rule-making powers are reallocated (August

Open Infrastructure, Close Financial Track: Open Dollar, Income Redistribution and Participant Governance

Apia, Samoa, August 13, 2026--HTX Ventures, a global investment arm of HTX, released the latest report "Open Infrastructure, Close Financial Track: "Open Dollar, Income Redistribution and Participant Governance" provides an in-depth analysis of the profound changes that are taking place in stablecoin income distribution, channel relationships and governance pattern after the launch of the Open Dollar (OUSD) on June 30, 2026.

report pointed out that although blockchain technology has built an open, global and programmable technology infrastructure, the next stage of the industry's development will depend on how participants compete for control and the distribution of economic benefits. The technical layer has opened up, but the economic layer has only just begun to open up.

Closed economic structure on open technology

Stabiloins have evolved from a settlement tool in cryptocurrency transactions to an important tool for cross-border payments, corporate treasury management, and institutional back-office clearing. As of April 2026, Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot has reached approximately US$7 billion in annual processing capacity on nine blockchains, while projects such as Swift, Canton Network, Fnality and Project Agorá are also actively exploring how tokenized deposits and central bank currencies can be settled in a shared environment.

However, economic rights still follow the traditional distribution pattern. The issuer uses user dollars to mints stablecoins and allocates reserve assets in cash and short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, and the reserve earnings are fully owned by it. However, the entire system relies on exchanges and wallets to reach users. Payment companies need to connect merchants, banks need to provide access to legal currency, custodians need to keep reserve assets, and market makers need to provide secondary market depth. These institutions bear the costs of integration, compliance and liquidity and currently generate revenue mainly through bilateral commercial agreements, with bargaining power largely determined by the size of their own users.

Three major mechanism changes in OUSD design

Under the framework of Open Standard, companies can cast and redeem OUSD for free and without limit. Open Standard charges a small management fee, and the remaining reserve proceeds are allocated specifically to partners who adopt and promote OUSD, as well as selected partners who plan to join its board of directors. More than 140 institutions have been announced on the list of partners, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and BNY.

HTX Ventures summarizes this design into three major changes:

Moving from a fee-based access model to a subsidized distribution model, using reserve income to offset real and high investments in customer acquisition, liquidity construction, regional compliance and fiat channels;

Moving from bilateral negotiations to revenue sharing at the network level, medium-sized payment companies, regional banks and vertical wallets are included in a unified framework, and partners share revenue based on their contribution;

Moving from issuer governance to participant governance, giving institutions with business and regulatory responsibilities a say in rule-making.

OUSD is scheduled to be officially launched later 2026. It is worth noting that it shares the OUSD code with Origin Dollar, launched by Origin Protocol in 2020, but the two are different products.

Implementation details determine whether the model can work

HTX Ventures believes that the feasibility of the model depends on a number of specific mechanisms. Income-sharing rules directly determine who gets value: distribution based on balance benefits well-capitalized institutions, while distribution based on transaction volume can be distorted by internal transfers that generate trading activity but are not actual payments. A feasible mechanism needs to comprehensively consider factors such as balance retention, actual payments, new customer acquisition, and regional compliance investment. Similarly, the key to governance arrangements is what the board can actually decide, not how many institutions are on the list.

The more fundamental problem is that there is still a long way to go between joining the alliance and migrating core businesses. What ultimately determines the value of the network is a stable balance, real payment volume, depth of market-making and a smooth redemption experience.

Value chain revenue faces redistribution

If the revenue-sharing model generates continued growth in payments, then the scope for issuers to enjoy all reserve earnings will be narrowed. Exchanges, wallets and payment companies that master user access, liquidity and payment scenarios may transform from distribution tools to participants in revenue sharing and governance arrangements. For banks, the impact is twofold-deposit and correspondent bank income may be eroded, but stablecoins still require reserve custody, legal currency entry and exit channels, and foreign exchange liquidity. The direct impact on card organizations is limited because they still play an irreplaceable role in transaction authorization, fraud management and merchant acceptance. In clearing, custody and data services, fees based on proprietary records are likely to fall, while services linked to security and accountability are expected to expand.

The next dimension of competition

The open dollar raises a question that goes beyond stablecoins: How will the value chain allocate profits and control when banks, payment processors, exchanges, asset management companies and custodians together provide underlying assets, customer relationships, liquidity and compliance capabilities?

This shift is most likely to occur in the mid-and back-office infrastructure space. This type of business requires the participation of multiple institutions, and no single platform can independently provide customer access, regional licenses, fiat channels and counterparty networks. Organizations need to share infrastructure but are reluctant to hand over core business, customer data and risk authority to direct competitors. Therefore, alliance governance and revenue sharing are not motivated by the ideological pursuit of decentralization, but are pragmatic business prerequisites for cross-agency networks.

HTX Ventures pointed out that along this path, the competition for stablecoins will shift from issue size and on-chain liquidity to who can contribute network value, who can share infrastructure revenue, who can retain customers and data, and who can set operating rules. The next generation of financial infrastructure does not necessarily need to be completely decentralized. It is more likely to evolve from a single company control to a network where regulated participants are connected, shared returns, and governed through a hierarchical mechanism for major decisions. As a research and investment firm with a long history of focusing on payment infrastructure and institutional settlement networks, HTX Ventures will continue to track how this redistribution of revenue, customers and rulemaking power shapes the direction of the industry.