Why CFOs should pay attention to Open USD—the new stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies

With more than 140 financial institutions, payment networks, and technology partners—including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, BlackRock, Citizens Bank, and Coinbase—participating, announced this week, Open USD represents a test of whether shared infrastructure for tokenized dollars can move from concept to operating reality.

Unlike most stablecoins, Open USD, expected to launch later this year, will be operated by an independent company governed by a board composed of partner organizations, meaning decisions on reserves, redemption rules, and technical standards are intended to be made collectively rather than by a single issuer.

Stephen Tu, vice president of Moody’s Ratings Financial Institutions Group, said Open USD is still in its early stages but sees it as a potentially significant cross-industry consortium seeking to shape the next generation of stablecoin payment infrastructure.

“Its structure reflects a broader trend also seen in tokenized deposits, where consortium-based models may have advantages over single-issuer approaches by aligning incentives, broadening distribution and supporting interoperability through shared governance,” Tu said in an email to CFO Daily.

The economic model differs from today’s dominant stablecoins. Rather than concentrating reserve income with a single issuer, Open USD says partners will be able to mint and redeem tokens at no cost while sharing reserve earnings after a management fee.

For finance leaders managing settlement collateral, cross-border liquidity, or large payment flows, that raises the possibility of turning what are often idle settlement balances into assets that generate income within a governance framework that participants help oversee.

The execution will be the determining factor for success. “Its impact will depend on whether those partners route meaningful volume through it rather than simply adding another token to existing payment rails,” Tu said.

The timing reflects broader changes in digital payments. Stablecoin transaction volumes have grown dramatically in recent years, although a significant share of activity still comes from digital-asset markets rather than everyday commercial payments. The longer-term opportunity lies in whether tokenized dollars become part of mainstream treasury operations, cross-border settlement, and institutional payments.

Infrastructure providers are already positioning for that possibility. Fireblocks, one of Open USD’s infrastructure partners, argues that digital assets are increasingly becoming part of the financial plumbing behind enterprise payments.

“This is an inflection point: digital assets are becoming a crucial part of how value moves around the world, underpinning and transforming business-critical payment flows,” Fireblocks CEO and co-founder Michael Shaulov wrote in a blog post.

For CFOs under pressure to modernize working-capital cycles and support 24/7 business models, the strategic question isn’t whether to hold stablecoins as speculative assets. It’s whether the infrastructure that moves money is beginning to change—and whether their organizations have a voice in shaping it.

The takeaway for finance leaders: Open USD itself may or may not become the dominant stablecoin. The more consequential question is whether consortium-owned payment infrastructure becomes the preferred model for tokenized money. If it does, finance leaders will have to decide whether to help shape those networks—or adapt to standards established by others.

*Quick note: In honor of America’s 250th birthday, we will not publish tomorrow. The next CFO Daily will arrive in your inbox on Monday. Happy Fourth of July, and have a great weekend.

Sheryl [email protected]

Leaderboard

Fortune 500 Power Moves

—Michael Angelakis, former vice chairman and CFO of Comcast Corporation (No. 37), will return as strategic advisor to assist in the separation of its media and technology businesses into two independent, publicly traded companies through a tax-free spin-off of NBCUniversal and Sky. Angelakis will then become CEO of Comcast when the transaction is expected to close in mid-2027. Mike Cavanagh, currently co-CEO of Comcast, will become CEO of NBCUniversal.

Angelakis joined Comcast in 2007 and stepped down as CFO in 2015 to launch Atairos, a strategic investment company formed in partnership with Comcast, where he became chairman and CEO. Atairos remains focused on long-term investments in growth companies. 

—Christina Zamarro, EVP and CFO of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (No. 239), will leave the company for another opportunity, effective July 10. Zamarro joined Goodyear in 2007 and has spent nearly two decades in financial leadership roles at the company, becoming CFO on January 1, 2023. “She has been a valued partner across the business, helping advance important initiatives and positioning the company for continued progress,” CEO Mark Stewart said in a statement.

Scott Deakin has been named interim CFO at Goodyear, effective July 1. A former public company CFO and multi‑industry operating executive, Deakin has more than 25 years of financial and operational experience and most recently served as CFO at Gypsum Management & Supply, Inc., a wholesale distributor of interior construction products, from 2019 to 2026. Goodyear is conducting a comprehensive search process to identify a permanent chief financial officer.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.

More notable moves this week:

Jonathan Collins was appointed SVP of finance and CFO of Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO), a footwear company, effective Aug. 3. Genesco president and CEO Mimi E. Vaughn has served as interim CFO since March. Collins brings more than 30 years of senior financial experience. Most recently, he served as CFO of America’s Car-Mart, Inc. He previously spent more than a decade with Walmart in a series of successive executive leadership roles, including CFO of Walmart Africa, chief accounting officer of Flipkart Group, and chief accounting officer of Walmart.

Ravi Thanawala, CFO of Papa John’s International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA), is leaving for a CFO position at another public company. Chris Collins, SVP of corporate finance and principal accounting officer, has been appointed to the additional position of interim CFO, effective immediately. Thanawala will be available in an advisory capacity until July 31. The company has begun a search for a permanent CFO.

Heather Larkin was appointed CFO of Deltek, a multinational enterprise software and information solutions company. Larkin brings more than two decades of financial leadership, with experience in SaaS transformation, cloud-era finance operations, and scaling finance organizations through periods of rapid growth. She joins Deltek from UKG, a global human capital management platform company, where, as senior vice president of finance, she led financial planning and analysis across the company’s worldwide business.

Adarsh Parekh was appointed CFO of Quantum Space, a defense and space manufacturer. Parekh, a space industry veteran, will oversee the company’s financial strategy as it advances development of the Ranger spacecraft platform and enters the public markets via a proposed combination with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI (Nasdaq: IPFX). He joins Quantum Space from Sidus Space, where he served as CFO. Before that, Parekh was CFO of Terran Orbital, where he helped lead the company’s sale to Lockheed Martin. 

Jason Knoblauch was appointed CFO of Fortrea (Nasdaq: FTRE), a global contract research organization, effective July 6. He will succeed Jill McConnell, who is stepping down. Knoblauch joins Fortrea from Clario, a provider of endpoint data solutions. Before that, he was CFO at Curia. Earlier in his career, Knoblauch served in various financial leadership roles at Pharmaceutical Product Development, including interim CFO. 

Big Deal

E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley’s monthly analysis gauges clients’ behavior in June. 

Going deeper

Here are four Fortune weekend reads:

“CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut” —Emma Burleigh

“As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch” —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

“Anthropic’s AI models are back online after a two-week government standoff—settling the company and administration into a fragile truce” —Tristan Bove

“U.S. Polo Assn. CEO was told he wasn’t right for a promotion—so he ‘outworked’ anyone else who wanted the job for 6 months straight” —Orianna Rosa Royle

Overheard

“I’m proud to be a part of AT&T’s history and of America’s history, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunities this country has given me and my family.”

—Pascal Desroches, CFO at AT&T, wrote in a reflective LinkedIn post on Wednesday. “As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, I’ve been reflecting on my own journey,” Desroches wrote. “I came to the United States from Haiti as a child, the son of immigrants who believed in the promise of opportunity. Along with us kids, my parents brought determination, resilience, and an unwavering belief that, in America, hard work could open doors. That belief shaped my path, ultimately leading me here to help steward one of America’s most iconic companies and set it up for success in the next era of connectivity.”