Goldman Sachs, BofA, Citi Join 21-Firm Stablecoin Venture

Twenty-one global financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Fidelity Investments, have committed to create a new company in the second half of 2026 to support a US dollar stablecoin planned for launch in the first half of 2027.

The group’s joint announcement says the venture will operate globally and target wholesale, institutional and retail use cases, including cross-border payments and digital-asset settlement. It intends to comply with the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA framework where applicable, while eventually adding stablecoins denominated in other G7 currencies. A euro token is the first priority beyond the dollar.

The project has more than doubled in size since October 2025, when an initial group of 10 banks disclosed that it was exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money designed for public blockchains.

Bank consortium race gets more crowded

The venture will arrive alongside a separate bank-led push in Europe. Qivalis has expanded to 37 financial institutions across 15 European countries and is pursuing regulatory approval for a 1:1-backed euro stablecoin. BBVA and Rabobank participate in both groups, giving the two projects some institutional overlap despite their different initial currency priorities.

Other regulated bank-backed projects are already moving into commercial deployment. Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint, for example, began a limited HKD rollout in Hong Kong in August after securing a stablecoin issuer licence.

Key details remain unresolved

Tuesday’s announcement leaves several parts of the product undefined. The group has not named the new company or disclosed which blockchain networks it expects to use, how reserves will be composed and held, or how customers will access and redeem the token. Establishment of the company also remains subject to closing conditions.

Those disclosures will determine how closely the planned stablecoin resembles existing regulated tokens and how easily it can move between traditional banking infrastructure and public blockchain markets ahead of the targeted 2027 launch.