Goldman, Citi and Other Banks Commit About $270 Million to Project Faro Dollar Stablecoin Venture

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other large financial institutions have committed about $270 million to fund a jointly owned stablecoin company for its first five years of operations, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. The group also includes Banco Santander and Deutsche Bank, according to the report.

What was reported

The funding is intended to cover the operating costs of the new company, which will act as the issuer of a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin and is expected to be incorporated in the United States, Bloomberg said. The people who described the commitment asked not to be named because the information is private.

CoinDesk, summarizing the Bloomberg report, said the venture is known as Project Faro and that Wells Fargo, Fidelity, MUFG and Standard Bank are also involved. Project Faro also aims to develop stablecoins tied to other Group of Seven currencies, with a euro-denominated token as the priority, CoinDesk said. The participating banks did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's requests for comment.

A 21-institution consortium

The venture was announced on Sept. 1, 2026, when 21 financial institutions said they had committed to establish a new company in the second half of 2026, subject to closing conditions, to support the issuance of a stablecoin, according to a press release published by Santander. The release said the company's name would be announced later and that the group aims to bring its stablecoin to market in the first half of 2027.

The September announcement listed the members by region. In North America, they are Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group, Wells Fargo and WisdomTree. In Europe, they are Banco Santander, BBVA, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Rabobank and UBS. MUFG Bank, Sirius International Holding and Standard Bank complete the group.

According to the release, the company intends to operate globally, starting with a dollar-denominated stablecoin and later expanding into stablecoins in other G7 currencies. The token is planned for wholesale, institutional and retail uses, including cross-border payments and the settlement of digital assets. The group said the initiative is intended to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, where they apply.

The project grew out of an October 2025 announcement in which an initial group of 10 banks said it was exploring issuance of a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money available on public blockchains, the release said.

Competition for bank-grade dollar tokens

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to track the value of a traditional asset, usually a government-issued currency, and have become a main route for financial institutions into crypto markets. CoinDesk noted that more than 140 companies, including Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and BlackRock, joined forces in June to develop a separate token, the Open USD stablecoin.

A contracting stablecoin market

The bank funding news arrives as the stablecoin market shrinks. In its weekly Data & Insights newsletter published Nov. 10, The Block reported that total stablecoin supply fell 1.4% over the prior week, the largest weekly decline since early 2023. USDC supply is down 6.67% year to date and USDT is down 5.4%, according to the newsletter, which cited the Binance hack as one catalyst. Stablecoin balances on Ethereum fell to $67 billion, down more than 20% this year, leaving Ethereum second to Tron by stablecoin balance, The Block said.

The Block also reported more than $1 billion in combined outflows from spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds in the past week, with bitcoin fund outflows concentrated in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, which shed about $800 million, while Fidelity and Bitwise funds recorded inflows. Ether ETFs posted six straight weeks of outflows totaling more than $1.8 billion, or roughly 15% of their assets.

Bitcoin price

Bitcoin was little changed early Wednesday, Nov. 11. The CME CF Bitcoin Real-Time Index stood at $73,945.19, up 0.32% on the day, after falling 2.02% on Tuesday to $73,710.68, according to Investing.com historical data. The index traded between $73,120.83 and $74,070.08 in the session. Bitcoin is about 40% below its October 2025 peak and down about 14% year to date, The Block said.

What to watch

The consortium has not publicly confirmed the Bloomberg report or the Project Faro name. Under the September plan, the company is to be established in the second half of 2026, with a stablecoin launch targeted for the first half of 2027. Regulatory approvals and the closing conditions referenced in the release remain outstanding steps.