Circle Stock Rebounds as Korean Firms Deny Open USD Membership

Circle (CRCL) stock climbed more than 4% on Thursday, July 2, recovering from a 16.55% plunge the previous session after several major South Korean companies publicly disputed their inclusion in the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin consortium that triggered the selloff. The rebound pared but did not erase losses tied to the launch of a 140-company stablecoin alliance designed to challenge Circle’s USDC.

The four-day arc now spans a Tuesday announcement, a Wednesday insider stock sale, a Thursday rebound and a Friday set of on-the-record denials from Seoul. It has turned the launch into both a market-moving event and a credibility test for Open Standard, the independent issuer behind OUSD.

Circle’s Bounce-Back on Thursday

Circle shares closed higher on Thursday, July 2, the first full session after Open Standard unveiled OUSD on June 30. The single-day recovery cut into the 16.55% drop recorded Tuesday, when CRCL touched $62 on the way down, per Simply Wall St data carried by Wu Blockchain.

The bounce followed Korean-language press reports, picked up in English by Chosun Biz on July 3, that several large Korean financial and technology companies had not, in fact, formally signed on as Open Standard partners. Investors read the denials as evidence that the OUSD alliance’s headline roster might be more aspirational than contractual.

The numbers at the center of the week tell the story in plain figures:

• 16.55% drop: CRCL’s fall on June 30 after the OUSD launch
• More than 4%: CRCL’s rebound on Thursday, July 2
• $3.13 million: the value of 50,000 Class A shares sold by Circle director Neville Patrick Sean on July 1
• 140 companies: the size of Open Standard’s claimed partner roster at launch

How Open USD Rattled the Market

Open Standard unveiled Open USD on June 30, billing it as a dollar-pegged stablecoin jointly operated by Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Stripe, Coinbase, Google and more than 140 other companies. Zach Abrams, co-founder of the stablecoin firm Bridge, which Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2025, leads Open Standard on an interim basis.

The token’s economic design strikes directly at Circle’s revenue model. OUSD lets participating corporations mint and redeem tokens for free and without limits, and distributes most reserve-management earnings to network partners rather than the issuer. Stripe president of technology and business Will Gaybrick said in the launch announcement: “Open USD will be the default stablecoin for businesses running on Stripe.”

For Circle, the threat is structural. Reserve interest produced 99% of the company’s revenue in 2024, and Circle paid Coinbase $908 million that year to distribute USDC under a revenue-sharing agreement that comes up for renewal in August. OUSD gives partners a reason to route around that arrangement.

How the week unfolded:

1. June 30: Open Standard unveils OUSD and its 140-company roster; CRCL drops 16.55% to $62
2. July 1: Circle director Neville Patrick Sean files a Form 4 disclosing the sale of 50,000 Class A shares under a 10b5-1 plan
3. July 2: CRCL rebounds more than 4% as Korean media outlets begin questioning the alliance roster
4. July 3: Chosun Biz publishes detailed on-the-record denials from named Korean firms, including Samsung Electronics

The Korean Denials Reshaping the Story

The denials turned the OUSD narrative on its head within 72 hours of launch. Samsung Electronics said it had held no official consultations with Open Standard and did not know what role it would take in the alliance, according to Chosun Biz’s July 3 report on Korean firms disputing Open USD membership.

Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group and K Bank gave parallel accounts. Each said Open Standard had only asked whether they were interested in participating in OUSD and that they had replied with something close to “we will review it.” Their names appeared on the consortium list anyway. One additional Korean company, not named in the Chosun report, told the outlet it first learned of its inclusion from domestic news; a representative called the listing “perplexing.”

Founders of digital asset firms echoed the criticism from outside Korea. Gabor Gurbacs, founder of Pointsville, said he had spoken with several listed OUSD consortium members and was told none of them had signed or agreed to participate. Gurbacs added that either the media had significantly distorted the situation or the published participant list was misleading.

Korean companies listed by Open Standard as OUSD participants, per the Chosun report, include:

• Samsung Electronics (no official discussions, per Chosun)
• Dunamu (only informal interest, per Chosun)
• Shinhan Financial Group (only informal interest, per Chosun)
• K Bank (only informal interest, per Chosun)
• KakaoBank
• Hyundai Card
• KB Kookmin Card
• BC Card
• Hana Card
• Samsung Card
• Woori Card
• NH NongHyup Card
• Hanwha

As of the Chosun Biz report, only Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group and K Bank had gone on record disputing their inclusion. The card issuers and KakaoBank had not issued on-the-record statements one way or the other.

An Insider Sale in the Same Window

Circle director Neville Patrick Sean converted 50,000 shares of Class B common stock into Class A common stock on July 1 and sold the resulting Class A shares the same day, according to a Form 4 disclosure. The transactions were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, a structure that lets insiders sell on a set schedule regardless of what material non-public information they hold.

The shares were sold in two tranches. The first, of 35,981 Class A shares, traded at prices between $61.80 and $62.71 per share for a weighted average of $62.29. The second, of 14,019 shares, traded between $63.56 and $63.63 for a weighted average of $63.57. Together the two tranches totaled approximately $3.13 million. The full disclosure, with the exact price ranges and trust holdings, is available in the Form 4 disclosure of Circle director’s July 1 stock sale.

What Analysts and Circle’s CEO Are Saying

Two analysts quoted in a June 30 analysis of the OUSD threat to Circle split on whether Tuesday’s drop was justified. Clear Street managing director Owen Lau called the 16% selloff “an overreaction,” pointing to Paxos’ Global Dollar Network (USDG), another consortium-backed stablecoin that shares reserve income with partners but has grown to only a $3 billion supply since its late-2024 launch. USDC, by comparison, has a $73 billion supply; Tether’s USDT, $145 billion. Lau argued that consortium stables face a hard adoption problem regardless of marquee names.

Rob Hadick, general partner at venture firm Dragonfly, struck a different note. He told CoinDesk that “the marquee partner names clearly suggest a real threat to Circle’s business,” citing Stripe’s broad financial product suite. He also cautioned that “consortiums are hard and they break easily. Incentives are broad and often misaligned.”

Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire has been more blunt. In a post on X after the launch, he argued that the track record of consortium products achieving scale is “absolutely dismal,” and laid out the case in plain language.

Large groups of large companies coordinate poorly, have misaligned incentives, slow things down and rarely create the space for real durable innovation and competitiveness. They also typically, out of their own self-interest, starve the consortium itself on an operating basis. But oftentimes when these get formed, everyone feels like they should put their logo on the list, kiss the ring, and make noise about openness.

Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Circle, posted those remarks on X in the days after Open Standard unveiled OUSD. His framing captures a theme that has run through the week: the OUSD roster reads as a launch-day press release, and several of the listed partners now say the list was assembled without their formal consent. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, separately, had disclosed fresh purchases of Circle stock on a June 26 dip, per ARK’s recent purchase of Circle stock.

How Open USD Actually Differs from USDC

For USDC or USDT, the issuer takes custody of a customer’s $1 deposit, mints one stablecoin, and keeps the income earned on reserves. OUSD turns that flow inside out. When a participating corporation deposits $1 into Open Standard’s reserve account, Open Standard mints 1 OUSD. When that corporation returns the OUSD, Open Standard redeems the dollar into the corporation’s bank account. There are no fees and no minting caps for partners, and most reserve-management earnings flow back to the network rather than to Open Standard itself.

The mechanics explain why the launch landed as a structural threat to Circle rather than a routine competitor entry. Reserve interest accounts for nearly all of Circle’s revenue, and the existing revenue-sharing arrangement with Coinbase is up for renewal in August.

How the four biggest dollar stablecoins compare on supply:

OUSD is scheduled to go live later this year on the Plasma blockchain and other chains built for stablecoin payments, and Open Standard has not yet published its ownership structure, the licensing framework for the issuer, or how reserve income will be split among partners. Paxos’ USDG, by contrast, has been live since late 2024, with a $3 billion supply. Open Standard, in the words of one analyst quoted above, has not yet published the answers Lau said would tell the market whether the consortium can convert its launch-day roster into supply at scale.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Stablecoin, cryptocurrency and equity markets are highly volatile. Readers should consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions. Figures cited are accurate as of the publication dates of the underlying sources listed in this article.