Twenty-one international financial institutions have agreed to jointly establish a new company to issue a reserve-backed stablecoin, according to a joint announcement from the participating banks. The venture is targeting commercial launch in the first half of 2027.
The initial stablecoin will be denominated in U.S. dollars, with additional G7 currencies planned for later phases and the euro identified as the next priority. Backers include Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group, Wells Fargo, and WisdomTree in North America; Banco Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Rabobank, and UBS in Europe; MUFG Bank in East Asia; Sirius International Holding in the Middle East; and Standard Bank in Africa.
The group intends to formally establish the company in the second half of 2026, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval, and says the venture is designed to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The announcement did not name executives, disclose an ownership structure, or reveal what the new company will be called.
The consortium's stated use cases span wholesale, institutional, and retail markets, including cross-border payments and digital-asset settlement — positioning the venture as infrastructure rather than a retail-facing crypto product. It adds to a growing list of bank-led stablecoin initiatives launched since the GENIUS Act established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, as large financial institutions move to build compliant alternatives to crypto-native issuers such as Circle and Tether.
Unlike single-issuer stablecoins, the new venture pools reserve backing, compliance infrastructure, and distribution across two dozen of the world's largest banks — a structure aimed at giving corporate and institutional clients a bank-grade alternative for on-chain dollar settlement, though no interoperability or reserve-management details have yet been disclosed.