Goldman, Citi Commit $270M to Their Own Stablecoin: Can Tether and Circle Hold On?
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Santander and Deutsche Bank have committed about $270 million to Project Faro, a planned joint bank stablecoin.
The money funds a planned US issuer that targets a 2027 launch. The group is still searching for a chief executive and has no product yet.
Stablecoins are crypto tokens pegged to $1. Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC hold about 85% of a $290 billion market.
Circle earns most of its money from interest on the cash and Treasury bills backing USDC. Its reserves returned 3.5% in the third quarter, on $73.3 billion of average USDC in circulation.
In Q3, we saw continued proof that institutions are building and expanding on USDC.
Circle stock fell 5% on June 30 after Bloomberg reported on Open USD, a rival stablecoin backed by Visa, Stripe and more than 100 firms. It dropped another 4% on August 26, when the Wall Street Journal reported this bank group’s plans.
The group’s advantage is reach. The 21 members include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, UBS and Lloyds, and the group plans to serve retail clients too.
The token is built to comply with the GENIUS Act, the US law setting rules for dollar stablecoins. It also targets Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules, with a euro version planned next.
Banks once lobbied against crypto firms issuing stablecoins that behaved like deposits. Now a bank-led group of 21 is paying to issue one, and the next markers are a chief executive, a company name and a launch date.
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