coindesk.com
A group of 21 financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs and UBS, plans to form a company that will issue stablecoins for payments and digital asset transactions, it said Tuesday.
The company, which is yet to be named, is expected to be established in the second half of the year, subject to closing conditions, the group said in a press release.
The venture plans to start with a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin and bring the product to market in the first half of 2027. It aims to add stablecoins tied to other Group of Seven currencies later, with a euro-denominated token being a priority.
The project grew from an initiative announced in October 2025, when 10 banks said they were exploring a digital payment asset backed one-for-one by reserves and available on public blockchains.
Participants now span North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. They include Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, Santander, Fidelity Investments, MUFG Bank and Standard Bank, alongside other banks and investment firms, the press release said.
It comes as the stablecoin market continues to accelerate. The overall market capitalization of this sector of the crypto industry rose from around $200 billion at the beginning of last year to around $303 billion as of press time, according to DeFiLlama data.
The lion’s share of the market is in the form of U.S.-dollar backed stablecoins, with Tether’s USDT accounting for 60% of the total. USDC, the second-largest competitor, commands more than 20% of the total.
The group said it intends to meet requirements under the U.S. GENIUS Act and the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.