Open Standard, the initiative responsible for the development of the OUSD stablecoin, faced questions after major South Korean companies stated that they had not officially joined the project, despite having been presented as participants in the alliance.
Among the companies mentioned are Samsung Electronics, Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and KBank. According to representatives of these companies, none of them made a formal commitment to join the stablecoin consortium, contrary to the impression conveyed during the initiative's announcement.
The project was presented this week by Zach Abrams, co-founder of Bridge, and stated that it had the support of more than 140 companies linked to the financial and payments sectors. Among the names disclosed were global giants such as BlackRock, Visa, Stripe, Google, Coinbase, and DBS, in addition to the South Korean companies.
However, after the list of participants was released, clarifications emerged from the South Korean companies. Samsung Electronics stated that it had not even participated in official consultations related to the OUSD project.
Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and KBank, meanwhile, stated that they had only agreed to review the proposal presented by Open Standard after being contacted by the team responsible for the initiative. The companies emphasized that this expression of interest does not represent a definitive agreement or a decision to participate.
The episode raises doubts about the stage of adherence of some members announced by the project. Although Open Standard disclosed a broad list of participants, some of the companies indicated believe that there is still no formal commitment to join the governance or operation of the stablecoin.
Open Standard intends to launch OUSD still in 2026. According to the proposal presented, participants will be able to issue and redeem the stablecoin without being charged fees, while they will receive most of the revenue generated by the assets that make up the project's reserves.
In addition, the initiative provides that OUSD's governance will be conducted by an independent entity, created to represent the interests of the stablecoin ecosystem. Despite this planning, the statements by Samsung, Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and KBank show that some of the names disclosed are still evaluating the proposal before deciding on any eventual official participation.