21 Global Banks Commit to Joint Stablecoin Venture, Circle Shares Fall 6% in Second Hit This Quarter

Twenty-one of the world's largest financial institutions said Tuesday, September 1, they will incorporate a new company in the second half of 2026 to issue a U.S. dollar stablecoin, with a market launch targeted for the first half of 2027, according to a joint release posted on Wells Fargo's website and reported by Banking Dive.

The roster is heavy. Bank of America, Citi, Capital One, Goldman Sachs, PNC and Wells Fargo lead the U.S. contingent. TD Bank Group and Scotiabank represent Canada. Europe brings UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Lloyds Banking Group, Crédit Agricole and Rabobank. MUFG Bank covers Asia, Standard Bank covers Africa, and Sirius International Holding, an Abu Dhabi-based subsidiary of International Holding Company, represents the Middle East. Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree, both asset managers already running tokenized money-market funds, round out the group.

What the release does not say matters as much as what it does. According to The Defiant, the announcement names no chief executive, no ownership split, no company name, no blockchain, no custodian and no reserve manager. Boston Consulting Group and Brunswick Group are advising, per Tech Times, but neither has authority to bind the consortium or any member.

A Year in the Making, Still Mostly a Plan

This isn't a sudden move. Ten of these institutions first disclosed the idea in October 2025, when they said they were studying a reserve-backed digital asset for public blockchains. The Defiant reports that eight of those original ten carried through to Tuesday's list, while Barclays and BNP Paribas dropped out. Thirteen new names joined, more than doubling the group in under a year.

The plan is to launch a dollar stablecoin first, then expand to other G7 currencies starting with the euro. The stated goal, per the release, is regulatory compliance with both the U.S. GENIUS Act and the European Union's MiCA framework. The GENIUS Act takes effect on the earlier of 120 days after federal regulators finalize implementing rules, or January 18, 2027. No final rules have been issued yet. The OCC published a proposed rule in February and the FDIC followed in April, according to The Defiant, meaning the banks are targeting a launch date that lands right around when the law they're trying to comply with actually kicks in.

Circle's Rough Quarter

Circle Internet Group, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, took the direct hit. Shares fell roughly 6% on September 1, according to tipranks and eGamers.io. It's the second time this quarter a stablecoin rival has knocked Circle's stock, following the late-June launch of Open USD, a 140-company consortium led by Stripe that includes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Coinbase and Ripple, which sent Circle down about 17% at the time, per Tech Times.

Morgan Stanley cut its Circle price target from $106 to $38, a roughly 64% reduction, in early August and downgraded the stock to Underweight, citing exactly this kind of structural competitive pressure. That sits in tension with the broader analyst picture: tipranks reports a consensus Moderate Buy rating across 21 Wall Street analysts, with an average price target of $100.44, implying 12% upside from current levels. Wall Street is not unified on how much this threatens Circle's business.

USDC currently holds about 24% of the $310.4 billion stablecoin market, versus Tether's USDT at 59%, according to DefiLlama figures cited by The Defiant. eGamers.io notes total supply is up 9.9% from a year earlier but down from a June 1 peak of $317.4 billion.

Why Banks Are Moving

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan warned on a January earnings call that 30% to 35% of U.S. commercial bank deposits, as much as $6 trillion, could migrate into stablecoins, according to Banking Dive. Banks aren't chasing a crypto trend for fun. They're trying to keep deposit money from walking out the door to non-bank digital dollars they don't control.

One name is conspicuously missing from both this consortium and Open USD: JPMorgan Chase. A company spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal, as cited by Banking Dive, that JPMorgan has "no plans to issue a stablecoin" but "would of course evaluate all options in the future." JPMorgan already runs its own tokenized deposit product, JPM Coin, and its own blockchain, so it's not sitting this out entirely, it's just not joining anyone else's club.

Traders are marking Circle down over a company that doesn't exist yet: no product, no blockchain, no ticker, nothing to actually compete with USDC for at least 18 months, according to eGamers.io. A consortium announcement is not a launch, though Circle's stock reaction, twice in one quarter, shows the market is pricing in the threat of bank-grade competition regardless of how far off the actual product is.

What happens next depends on regulatory timing nobody controls yet. The OCC and FDIC haven't finalized GENIUS Act implementing rules, and until they do, the exact date the law takes effect and the compliance bar this new bank consortium has to clear remains an open question.