Several major South Korean companies have said they have not formally joined the newly announced Open USD (OUSD) consortium, despite being listed among its participating organizations.
Open Standard, the independent entity behind the stablecoin, previously said it had assembled over 140 businesses to launch OUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, later this year.
Korean Companies Push Back
The lineup featured some of the world’s largest companies across multiple industries, such as Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, Ripple, and Standard Chartered, among the high-profile names. The list of South Korean participants included Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, KakaoBank, K Bank, Hyundai Card, KB Kookmin Card, BC Card, Hana Card, Samsung Card, Woori Card, NH Nonghyup Card, and Hanwha.
However, several of those companies have now disputed the nature of their involvement.
According to a report by Chosun Biz, a Samsung Electronics representative told the publication that there had been no official discussions with the OUSD issuer and that the company did not know what role it would play in the consortium. Meanwhile, Shinhan Financial Group, Dunamu, and K Bank similarly said Open Standard had only asked whether they were interested in participating in OUSD and that they had simply responded that they would review the proposal.
Their names were reportedly later included in the consortium list despite no formal commitment.
One company representative also said the firm only discovered it had been identified as an alliance member after reading domestic media reports. The representative added that the company had merely indicated it would consider participation if circumstances aligned and was puzzled to find itself listed as a member.
No Contracts, Only Discussions
The report was later echoed by the founder of digital asset firm Pointsville, Gabor Gurbacs, who said he spoke with several companies listed in the OUSD consortium, and they told him they had never signed or agreed to participate. He added that either the media had significantly distorted the situation or the published participant list was misleading.
The claims also prompted debate across X. One user described listing companies before deals are finalized as a “classic legitimacy-borrowing” move, while another said the situation represents a major credibility risk.
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