Several major South Korean companies have denied officially joining the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin alliance after being publicly named as consortium members by Open Standard.
The issue emerged after Open Standard announced on June 30 that it would launch OUSD, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, later this year. The company said about 140 financial, payment, and technology firms worldwide would participate in the consortium, including global names such as Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, and several leading South Korean companies.
Yesterday I flagged that 13 Korean companies were listed as OUSD partners. Today there’s a significant caveat: several of them say they never actually agreed to anything.
OUSD (Open USD) is a dollar stablecoin from the Open Standard consortium, unveiled June 30 with a planned… pic.twitter.com/OJSjkVUh0U
— Tony Chung (@jayc_BM) July 3, 2026
However, multiple Korean firms have now said they never formally agreed to join the project, raising questions about the consortium’s announced membership.
Did Korean companies officially join the OUSD consortium?
According to local outlet Chosun Biz, several companies listed by Open Standard said they had not completed any formal agreement to participate.
Among the companies named were Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, KakaoBank, K Bank, Hyundai Card, KB Kookmin Card, BC Card, Hana Card, Samsung Card, Woori Card, NH Nonghyup Card, and Hanwha.
Samsung Electronics said it had not held official discussions with Open Standard and was unaware of what role it would play in the consortium. Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, and K Bank also stated they were only asked whether they would be interested in the project and had agreed to review the proposal.
One company representative told Chosun Biz that the firm only discovered it had been listed as a consortium member after local media reports.
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How does the OUSD stablecoin work?
Open Standard said OUSD is designed as a payment and settlement stablecoin managed collectively by participating companies rather than by a single issuer.
Under the proposed model, members would mint OUSD by depositing U.S. dollars into Open Standard’s reserve account and redeem tokens by returning them to the issuer. The company also said consortium members would be able to mint and redeem OUSD without fees or volume limits.
Unlike existing stablecoin issuers, Open Standard plans to share reserve income generated from the assets backing OUSD with participating partners after operating costs are deducted.
Membership questions cloud OUSD launch
Open Standard’s announcement initially drew attention because of the large number of well-known companies it claimed would participate. Some industry observers suggested the project could become a competitor to dominant stablecoins such as USDT and USDC.
However, the responses from several South Korean companies show that at least some of the announced members have not formally committed to joining the consortium, creating uncertainty over the project’s stated global partnership network.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered launched a new service that gives institutional clients direct access to USDC minting and redemption through a partnership with Circle, becoming the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) to offer the capability through a single banking relationship.
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