Aave Labs proposes adding Stripe-backed stablecoin OUSD to core markets
Aave Labs has published an ARFC proposing to onboard Open USD (OUSD) to the Aave V3 Core Instance and the Aave V4 Core Hub on Ethereum. OUSD is a dollar stablecoin issued by Bridge Building Inc, a Stripe subsidiary, and the listing would make Aave a day-one venue for lending and borrowing the token.
- OUSD would launch as supply and borrow only, with collateral usage disabled on both deployments
- Redemptions are capped at 10% of outstanding OUSD supply in any 24-hour period
- Risk parameters await recommendations from LlamaRisk before a Snapshot vote can proceed
- 200+ companies in the OUSD partner consortium, per the post
- 10% cap on 24-hour redemptions as share of outstanding supply
- 5 Zenith audit reports covering the issuer’s template, none OUSD-specific
The ARFC lays out OUSD’s structure in detail: cash, short-term Treasuries and qualifying money market funds back the token at least 1:1, with BlackRock managing the Treasury reserve and BNY and Lead Bank providing banking. Bridge Building Inc, a subsidiary of Bridge Ventures LLC and ultimately Stripe LLC, issues and redeems OUSD under contract with Open Standard LLC, the program’s governance entity. Aave is listed among the consortium’s over 200 partners, alongside Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and BlackRock.
Reserve Income Model Differs From Typical Stablecoins
Unlike most fiat-backed stablecoins, OUSD is designed to return the bulk of reserve income to partners that adopt and distribute it, with Open Standard keeping a management fee. The post states Aave Labs will not be paid for this: “Aave Labs has not received and will not receive any compensation or reserve income tied to OUSD distribution.”
If the listing passes, the Aave DAO itself would still collect reserve factor and liquidity fee income from OUSD borrowing activity on its own markets.
Issuer Keeps Freeze, Seize and Upgrade Powers
The contract at 0x9f6F…C4436 is upgradeable, and the issuer holds mint, burn, pause, freeze/seize and allowlist/denylist functions. The post says Bridge secures these keys through Fireblocks MPC and follows documented freeze and blacklist processes it describes as compliant with the GENIUS Act.
Issuance is expected to eventually move to Bridge National Trust Bank, which holds preliminary conditional OCC approval as of February 12, 2026, without changing token contracts or addresses.
Process Mirrors, Then Diverges From, Recent Listings
OUSD follows the standard three-step Aave path: forum feedback, then Snapshot vote if sentiment is positive, then an onchain AIP with final parameters. That contrasts with Aave’s recent direct-to-AIP listing of USDe on Avalanche, which skipped the ARFC and Snapshot stages entirely.
The document does not explain why OUSD is taking the longer route while other recent stablecoin listings bypassed it.
What Changes In Practice
For Aave users, a passed proposal means a new dollar asset to borrow against existing collateral, but no new collateral option at launch since OUSD usage as collateral is explicitly disabled. LPs supplying OUSD would earn yield from Aave borrowers rather than direct exposure to Open Standard’s reserve income share.
Aave DAO treasury would gain reserve factor and liquidity fee revenue on OUSD borrow volume, an incremental addition alongside existing stablecoin markets like USDe.
The proposal sets no supply cap, borrow cap or interest rate curve; those depend on LlamaRisk’s pending recommendations and Chainlink feeds already live in production.
The document also does not disclose OUSD’s current circulating supply or onchain liquidity, factors that would normally inform how aggressive those caps should be.
“Unlike most fiat-backed stablecoins, OUSD returns the large majority of reserve income to the partners that adopt and distribute it, with Open Standard retaining a small management fee.”
Aave governance forum, ARFC post
The CCS read. A stablecoin whose issuer retains freeze, seize and upgrade keys, backed by no asset-specific audit, is standard for GENIUS-era dollar tokens, not a red flag unique to OUSD. The real question is whether LlamaRisk’s parameters keep initial caps tight enough that Aave’s exposure stays proportional to OUSD’s still-undisclosed onchain liquidity.
Community sentiment on the ARFC determines whether Aave Labs moves OUSD to a Snapshot vote; no date for that vote is set, and LlamaRisk has yet to publish the risk parameters the proposal says will populate before onchain execution.
