Banks Set 2027 Target for Dollar Stablecoin Consortium
A 21-member bank consortium plans a U.S. dollar stablecoin for the first half of 2027, with Abu Dhabi-based Sirius joining a network built around GENIUS Act and MiCA compliance.
By 2027, a 21-bank group expects to launch its first U.S. dollar stablecoin through a new company scheduled for formation in late 2026, Economy Middle East reported, giving a bank-led digital money project its first commercial timetable.
The consortium has more than doubled from the 10 institutions that opened the exploratory phase in October 2025.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi and Deutsche Bank are among the members, alongside banks and financial firms from North America, Europe, East Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Abu Dhabi-based Sirius International Holding is the only participant headquartered in the region.
The first product would be denominated in dollars.
Other Group of Seven currencies could follow if the operating model clears launch, with a euro token named as the next priority.
That sequencing matters because dollar stablecoins dominate today's market, while European banks and regulators are trying to ensure that tokenized settlement does not become a purely offshore or non-bank activity.
Payments are the starting lane.
The banks are positioning the token for cross-border transfers, wholesale and institutional settlement, retail payment flows and settlement activity involving digital assets.
In practice, the project would test whether regulated banks can offer the speed and programmability associated with public-chain money while keeping control over compliance, governance, distribution and institutional risk.
The company has not yet been formed, and closing conditions still apply.
Its eventual name, brand, custody arrangements and reserve mechanics remain outside the public record.
Those gaps leave several execution questions unanswered, including which blockchains or settlement networks the consortium will support and how redemption, reserve reporting and jurisdictional access will work for participating banks.
Regulation sits at the centre of the plan.
The consortium intends to operate under the U.S. GENIUS Act and Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework where those regimes apply.
GENIUS sets a one-for-one backing standard for payment stablecoins using eligible liquid assets such as dollars and short-term Treasury securities, and it also creates a monthly public disclosure obligation for reserves.
The addressable market is already large.
In May, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde put global stablecoin circulation above $300 billion, up from less than $10 billion six years earlier, and warned that Tether and Circle controlled nearly nine-tenths of the market.
This week, Reuters placed Tether's USDT circulation at more than $180 billion.
Circle listed $73.3 billion of USDC outstanding on August 31, 2026.
The UAE link gives the bank group a regional reference point.
Sirius, a subsidiary of International Holding Company, previously partnered with IHC and First Abu Dhabi Bank on DDSC.
The dirham token received Central Bank of the UAE approval in February 2026, and IHC used it in May for an AED110 million transaction, equivalent to $30 million, on ADI Chain.
A parallel European track is also moving.
Qivalis, the euro stablecoin consortium, expanded in May to 37 financial institutions across 15 countries and is aiming for a second-half 2026 launch under MiCA.
For the dollar group, the next milestone is more basic but more decisive: incorporating the new entity and turning the member list into an operating stablecoin issuer.
