Banks Put $270M Behind Project Faro—Now They Need a Name and a CEO 🏦

A consortium of 21 global financial institutions has committed about $270 million to Project Faro, a joint stablecoin venture that plans to launch a dollar-denominated token in the first half of 2027. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank and BBVA are among the participants, according to Bloomberg.

The funding is intended to cover five years of operations for a company expected to be incorporated in the United States and issue a U.S. dollar stablecoin, with a euro-backed version and tokens for other G7 currencies planned to follow. The project is still seeking a chief executive, its final name has not been selected and individual funding commitments have not been disclosed. A project spokesperson, Santander and Deutsche Bank declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs and Citi referred questions to the venture.

Project Faro was first announced in September after the group expanded from 10 banks exploring the proposal in October 2025. Its members also include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments, PNC, Capital One, TD Bank, UBS, Lloyds Banking Group, MUFG, BNP Paribas and Rabobank. The consortium spans North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and plans to serve institutional and retail clients with cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. The token is being designed to comply with the GENIUS Act and MiCA rules.

The banks are entering a market in which Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC hold about 85% of a roughly $290 billion stablecoin market. As of Nov. 10, USDT had a market capitalization of approximately $176.3 billion, while USDC accounted for around $70.4 billion, according to DefiLlama. Circle shares fell about 6% when the bank consortium first went public in September, 5% on June 30 after Bloomberg reported Open USD, and 4% on August 26 after The Wall Street Journal reported the bank group’s plans; the stock fell again Tuesday amid the $270 million funding report.

Competing initiatives include Open USD, backed by Stripe, Visa and more than 100 companies, and Qivalis, a European consortium seeking to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin. BBVA, Rabobank and BNP Paribas participate in more than one project. Qivalis has 37 members and received authorization from the Dutch central bank as an electronic money institution in October 2026.

Circle booked $865 million in revenue and reserve income in the third quarter, when average USDC in circulation was $73.3 billion and reserves returned 3.5%. Circle Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire said, “In Q3, we saw continued proof that institutions are building and expanding on USDC.” The $270 million Project Faro budget equates to about $54 million a year.