$270 Million Committed to Project Faro’s Dollar Stablecoin Plan

Marcus Bennett

Around $270 million is now committed to Project Faro, a joint dollar stablecoin venture that has issued no token.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Banco Santander and Deutsche Bank are among the institutions backing the effort. The capital is meant to cover five years of operations for a planned U.S.-incorporated company that will issue a dollar-denominated stablecoin.

The money buys buildout time, not a usable coin. Known among participants as Project Faro, the venture still has no chief executive and no final name. A project spokesperson declined to comment. Santander and Deutsche Bank also declined to comment. Goldman and Citi directed questions to the project.

The commitment marks a shift from planning to buildout, though the commercial test remains unchanged: banks still need to turn institutional trust and client networks into a durable share of onchain settlement.

What is Project Faro building?

Decrypt previously reported that 21 of the world’s largest financial institutions committed in September to form a company that would issue a U.S. dollar stablecoin. The target is a launch in the first half of 2027, with a euro version and other currencies to follow.

The broader initiative first went public late last year. Its membership has more than doubled from the initial 10 banks that began exploring the idea in October 2025. The consortium now spans North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, giving it broader geographic reach than the original 10-bank exploration group.

Other participants named in the report include several banks and investment firms, among others:

• Bank of America
• Wells Fargo
• Fidelity Investments
• PNC
• Capital One
• TD Bank
• UBS
• BBVA
• Lloyds Banking Group
• MUFG

JPMorgan is not part of the consortium.

The bank group is not alone in pursuing a shared issuance model. Visa, Mastercard and Stripe are among more than 100 companies backing the issuer Open Standard. European banks have formed Qivalis to issue a euro-denominated coin.

What does this change for stablecoin users?

Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC together account for about 85% of a stablecoin market worth roughly $290 billion, nearly all of it dollar-pegged. When the consortium first went public in September, Circle’s stock fell about 6% as investors priced in the prospect of bank-backed competition for USDC.

The banks’ strategy rests on institutional trust, regulatory alignment and existing client networks, with the bet that those assets can win a share of settlement business built around round-the-clock, cross-border payments at lower cost than traditional rails.

The planned token is being designed to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act, which created the first federal framework for dollar-pegged tokens in 2025. Where applicable, the design also aims to comply with the EU’s MiCA regime. The group wants the stablecoin used across wholesale, institutional and retail markets.

For users, the practical change remains prospective: a funded contender built around bank client networks and a regulatory design is closer to market entry, but no token or payment route exists.

Can Project Faro meet its 2027 target?

Five years of funding gives the venture room to appoint a CEO, choose its final name and prepare the company to issue a dollar token. The schedule still carries execution risk. No token has been issued, and the first-half 2027 launch target leaves ample room for delay.

The $270 million commitment changes the consortium from a planning exercise into a funded buildout, with existing client networks and a defined regulatory design now behind the project. The next hard deadline is the first half of 2027, and naming the company, appointing a CEO and issuing a token will determine whether Project Faro becomes a working competitor or remains a blueprint.