According to Woofun AI, the traditional financial industry is experiencing an unprecedented cross-boundary merger. Twenty-one institutions, including Goldman Sachs (GS.US), Citibank (WFC.US), and Wells Fargo Bank (WFC.US), jointly formed the stablecoin joint venture Project Faro, marking the formal entry of the heavily restricted traditional banking industry into the cryptocurrency infrastructure sector.
This move not only breaks the deadlock between regulation and innovation in the past, but also indicates that the US dollar stablecoin market is about to usher in a new round of reshuffle led by top investment banks. The strategic intention behind it far exceeds simple technical experiments, but is aimed at redefining the power structure of global payments and settlements. Currently, the global stablecoin market is about 290 billion US dollars, of which Tether's USDT is about 176 billion US dollars and Circle (CRCL.US)'s USDC is about 70 billion US dollars. Together, the two account for about 85%. This highly concentrated stock pattern is the target that new entrants are trying to leverage.
According to data compiled by Woofun AI, this joint venture, codenamed Project Faro, is expected to land in the US. The core capital pool is about 270 million US dollars promised by all participants. This huge amount of money will be used exclusively to support the joint venture's daily operating costs over the next five years, rather than as an asset reserve after the stablecoin is issued. In addition to the three US financial giants mentioned above, the institutions participating in this capital feast include Fidelity (Fidelity), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG.US), and Standard Bank of South Africa (Standard Bank). A total of 21 participants span North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, which means that the project already has global capital allocation capabilities across borders and regions.
Although Bloomberg took the lead in disclosing this major news on November 10, up to now, project spokespersons, Santander, and Deutsche Bank have declined to comment. Goldman Sachs and Citi have not directly responded or forwarded issues to the project parties, and no official announcements or statements have been issued. This collective silence has instead added to the mystery of the project and market expectations.
From a structural point of view, this model of joint funding from multiple top institutions aims to disperse compliance risks and technical iterative pressure faced by a single bank, while drawing on each other's deep accumulation in the fields of cross-border payments, asset custody, and risk control, in an attempt to build a stablecoin ecosystem that both meets strict regulatory requirements and has extremely high liquidity.
Notably, the $270 million five-year operating budget is equivalent to an annual investment of approximately $54 million. This is a top resource allocation in the crypto field, showing that participants have strong confidence in the long-term commercial profitability of the project, rather than simply viewing it as a short-term marketing gimmick.
In terms of product path planning, Project Faro is not limited to a single currency. Its initial blueprint is to first issue US dollar stablecoins and then gradually develop other stablecoin products linked to Group of Seven (G7) currencies. Among them, Euro-denominated tokens are listed as priority targets.
This multi-currency strategy is clearly intended to capture the digital payment needs of the world's major economies, thereby creating a new type of cross-border payment network similar to the traditional SWIFT system but more efficient and transparent. However, at present, key details such as the specific investment ratio of each bank, the company's legal name, and CEO candidate have not been disclosed to the public, making it difficult for the market to accurately assess the distribution of voice rights among participants and the speed and speed of the project progress. According to the disclosure, the joint venture plans to be commercially launched in the first half of 2027, and the product design is intended to meet the requirements of the US “GENIUS Act” and the European Union's “Crypto Asset Market Regulation” (MiCA) at the same time. Clarifying the nature of capital is critical. This amount of $270 million is clearly defined as operating expenses rather than issuance reserves, which means that the backing (supporting assets) of stablecoins will be arranged separately, possibly involving cash, short-term treasury notes, or other highly liquid assets to ensure that every stablecoin in circulation is fully supported by assets.
This separation design may be to meet the strict regulatory requirements of different jurisdictions on segregation of bank capital and user assets, but it also raises new questions about the transparency of asset custody for investors. From a macro perspective, if the G7 currency stablecoin plan is realized, it will directly challenge the current situation of inefficient fiat cross-border settlement and may become an important reference model for the commercial application of digital currency (CBDC) by central banks. The scope of influence will spread from the crypto community to the core level of the global trade and financial system.