- Samsung Electronics and other South Korean firms denied formally joining the OUSD consortium, saying preliminary discussions were incorrectly presented as confirmed participation.
- Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and Kbank said they only agreed to review the proposal before their names appeared publicly as members.
- Open Standard plans to launch OUSD this year with a partner revenue-sharing model, entering a stablecoin market exceeding $291 billion globally.
Samsung Electronics and several South Korean companies have disputed their inclusion in the proposed OUSD stablecoin consortium, saying they never made formal commitments to join the initiative.
According to local media outlet Chosun Biz, Samsung Electronics said no official consultations had taken place with Open Standard. The company also stated that it does not know what role it would play in the project.
Open Standard announced earlier this week that OUSD would launch before the end of the year. The company also identified more than 140 organizations as consortium participants, including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, and Kbank.
However, several South Korean firms have now clarified that their discussions with Open Standard never progressed beyond preliminary conversations. Their statements have raised questions about how the consortium membership was presented.
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Companies Clarify Preliminary Talks Were Not Formal Commitments
Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and Kbank said Open Standard contacted them to gauge their interest in the project. Each company responded that it would review the proposal before making any decision. Despite those responses, their names later appeared on the consortium list released by Open Standard. Consequently, the companies have distanced themselves from suggestions that they officially joined the initiative.
Meanwhile, an official from one unnamed corporation said the company only learned it had been listed after reading local news reports. According to Chosun Biz, the official described the situation as perplexing because the company merely said it would consider participation if circumstances developed favorably.
Open Standard said the consortium will not operate as a decentralized autonomous organization or a shareholder-based structure. Instead, participating companies would mint OUSD by depositing U.S. dollars into the project’s reserve account.
The proposal also allows participants to redeem OUSD for dollars without fees or redemption limits. Moreover, Open Standard said it would distribute reserve management revenue to network partners after deducting a small operating fee. That approach differs from major stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle. Both companies retain income generated from investing reserve assets, including U.S. government bonds.
The dispute over consortium membership comes as competition in the stablecoin market continues to grow. According to The Block’s data dashboard, dollar-pegged stablecoins now hold more than $291 billion in market capitalization. Tether’s USDT accounts for roughly $184.3 billion, while Circle’s USDC exceeds $73 billion.
The responses from Samsung Electronics and other South Korean firms have placed greater attention on OUSD’s announced partner network. Open Standard is expected to face closer scrutiny as it moves toward the planned launch of its stablecoin later this year.
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