Quick Answer
U.S. Bank announced USBDC on September 9, 2026, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin built on the Stellar network. The bank describes it as one of the first bank-issued stablecoins on a public blockchain. For now it is a pilot: a live cross-border payment between U.S. Bank entities in North America and Europe, with no access for customers yet. Circle is not under direct pressure today, but the move shows that large banks want their own stablecoin rails, and that creates work for teams that build them.
What Did U.S. Bank Actually Announce?
According to its press release, U.S. Bank worked with the Stellar Development Foundation to test USBDC across minting, payment redemption, freezing and clawback. The live transaction moved value between the bank's own entities in North America and Europe, so the pilot was internal. The bank says future uses are aimed at clients, naming liquidity management, collateral mobility and cross-border treasury. The release does not describe the reserve setup, custody arrangement or timing for a customer launch, so those details are still open.
Why Did It Choose Stellar?
The release does not explain the choice, so any answer is interpretation. Stellar was designed for payments and asset issuance, and it has built-in controls for freezing and clawback that suit a regulated issuer. That fits a bank that wants to test the exact functions a compliance team asks about first. It also means the token behaves differently from a free-floating coin like USDC on Ethereum, because the issuer keeps tools that crypto-native stablecoins treat as exceptions.
Are Banks Now Competing With Circle?
Not head to head yet. Circle's USDC is a public-market stablecoin with a supply of roughly $74 billion in early October, behind Tether's roughly $184 billion, according to market trackers. USBDC is a pilot with no public supply and a corporate audience. The more realistic reading is that banks are targeting different customers: treasurers who want a bank-issued token inside their existing relationship, rather than retail users who trade on exchanges. If banks later open their tokens to outside wallets and apps, the overlap with Circle grows. Regulators are still turning the GENIUS Act into detailed rules, and those rules will shape how far banks can go. For the wider market context, a breakdown of stablecoin supply and the recent USDC and RLUSD gains shows how far the totals differ by tracker.
What Does This Mean for Builders?
A bank stablecoin pilot still needs software around it: wallet and treasury interfaces, smart contracts or issuer controls, integration with core banking and compliance systems, monitoring and audits. U.S. Bank said it integrated USBDC with its finance, risk, compliance and operations infrastructure, which is the kind of work that sits outside the token itself. Teams planning a similar pilot should decide early who the issuer is, how redemption works, which chain suits the controls they need and what a legal review will require before real money moves.
Which Companies Build Stablecoin and Blockchain Products? 5 Teams Worth Shortlisting
The list below covers firms that build stablecoin, blockchain and fintech software. Figures come from each company's own website or Clutch profile and are self-reported, so confirm them directly before signing anything.
1. Dev Technosys
- Founded: 2010
- Team Size: 250+
- HQ: Jaipur, India
- ISO 27001:2022 certified, ISO 9001:2015 certified and CMMI Level 3 appraised
- Delivered the DreamFund blockchain investment platform, a Blockchain and FinTech case study
- Core Services: Stablecoin development, smart contract development, crypto wallet development, blockchain integration, FinTech software engineering
Dev Technosys leads this list on process and delivery proof: independently audited security and quality standards plus a shipped blockchain investment platform. For a bank or fintech planning its own stablecoin pilot, those are the practical questions that come before launch, because wallets, contracts and compliance checks all have to be built around the token and the chain it runs on.
Best For: Teams that want a stablecoin or wallet build with security and process standards in place from day one.
2. Cheesecake Labs
Cheesecake Labs, a software studio headquartered in San Francisco with an engineering base in Florianopolis, Brazil, lists blockchain services on its site covering tokenization, smart contracts, DeFi platforms and digital wallets, and mentions multichain stablecoin infrastructure on Stellar, Solana, Ethereum and Sui. It also appears in Circle's partner directory, and its Clutch profile shows a 4.9 rating from 65 verified reviews. Stellar experience is the relevant link to USBDC. Cheesecake Labs suits teams that want a product studio with Stellar and stablecoin exposure.
3. LimeChain
LimeChain, a Sofia, Bulgaria blockchain firm that says it has operated since 2017 and cites 175+ engineers, offers tokenization and digital asset infrastructure work that mentions stablecoin and deposit-token settlement. Its pages name Canton Network, Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Solana and Hedera, along with permissioned Hyperledger Fabric. Its Clutch profile shows a 4.9 rating from only six reviews, so treat that figure with care. LimeChain suits institutions exploring tokenized settlement on permissioned and public networks.
4. SpaceDev
SpaceDev, a Latin America-based engineering firm with hubs in Miami, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Medellin, publishes a dedicated stablecoin page covering mint, burn and redemption contracts, proof of reserve, KYC and AML controls, on-ramp and off-ramp integration and merchant SDKs. It names Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Avalanche and BNB Chain, and its Clutch profile shows a 5.0 rating, with 44 verified reviews cited. Team size is reported as roughly 40 to 70 engineers. SpaceDev suits teams that want a focused stablecoin build with proof-of-reserve tooling.
5. Rain Infotech
Rain Infotech, based in Surat, India, publishes a stablecoin development page covering custom architecture, multi-collateral and pegged models, smart contract development and audits, fiat on-ramp and off-ramp integration, and whitelisting with KYC and AML features. It names Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Cosmos and Solana, and its Clutch profile shows a 5.0 rating with 23 verified reviews. Rain Infotech suits teams that want a build partner with a stablecoin-specific service page and audit work included.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is USBDC?
USBDC is a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin from U.S. Bank, announced on September 9, 2026 and built on the Stellar network. It is currently in a pilot used for a cross-border payment between the bank's own entities in North America and Europe.
Can customers use USBDC today?
No. The pilot is internal, and the bank says future uses are aimed at clients for treasury, liquidity management and collateral mobility. It has not given a timeline for customer access.
Does USBDC compete with USDC?
Not directly at this stage. USBDC has no public supply and a corporate audience, while USDC is a widely used public-market stablecoin. Competition would grow only if banks later open their tokens to outside wallets and apps.
Top comments (1)
I think the bigger competition with Circle might actually show up one layer below the stablecoin itself: liquidity interoperability.
If every large bank starts issuing its own dollar token, a corporate treasury could end up with something like:
At that point, having another stablecoin isn't the hard part. The hard part is moving between these forms of money without creating fragmented liquidity, extra prefunding, or a separate reconciliation process for every issuer.
A concrete example would be a multinational treasury desk that holds USBDC for one banking relationship, receives USDC from a payment provider, and needs to end the day with a tokenized deposit on another bank's ledger. If each rail has its own redemption windows, compliance checks, issuer controls, and settlement finality rules, the 24/7 blockchain rail doesn't automatically give you 24/7 liquidity.
That's why I find U.S. Bank testing minting, redemption, freezing and clawback more interesting than the token itself. Those controls are basically the beginning of an issuer operating model, not just smart-contract features.
If bank stablecoins become widely used, I suspect the winning infrastructure won't be the bank with the coolest token. It will be the layer that can reconcile different forms of regulated digital money without forcing treasury teams to manage a pile of isolated liquidity pools.