Open USD Membership Claims Challenged After Samsung, Others Dispute Participation
Several major South Korean companies have denied formally joining the newly announced Open USD (OUSD) consortium, despite being listed as participants. Open Standard, the entity behind the stablecoin, previously claimed it had assembled over 140 businesses to launch OUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, later this year.
The initial list of participants included global giants such as Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, Ripple, and Standard Chartered, along with prominent South Korean firms like Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, KakaoBank, K Bank, Hyundai Card, KB Kookmin Card, BC Card, Hana Card, Samsung Card, Woori Card, NH Nonghyup Card, and Hanwha.
However, several of these companies have now disputed the nature of their involvement. According to a report by Chosun Biz, a Samsung Electronics representative said there had been no official discussions with the OUSD issuer and that the company was unaware of its proposed role. Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and K Bank similarly stated that Open Standard had only inquired about their interest and they responded that they would review the proposal.
Their names were later included in the consortium list despite no formal commitment. One company representative said the firm only learned of its listed status through domestic media reports and had merely indicated it would consider participation if circumstances aligned.
Digital asset firm Pointsville founder Gabor Gurbacs echoed the report, stating he spoke with several listed companies and they confirmed they never signed or agreed to participate. He suggested the participant list may be misleading. The claims sparked debate on X, with one user describing the move as a ‘classic legitimacy-borrowing’ tactic and another calling it a major credibility risk.