A group of 21 financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Citi and Deutsche Bank, has committed around $270 million to a joint stablecoin venture known as Project Faro.
The funding will cover the first five years of operations for the planned company, Bloomberg reported on November 10, citing people familiar with the matter.
Banco Santander, Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments and others are also part of the group. The company is expected to be incorporated in the United States and will initially focus on issuing a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
The $270 million is intended to cover the company’s running costs rather than provide reserves for the token. The participants have not disclosed how much each institution will contribute or whether the funding will be structured as equity or another form of investment.
The banks are still looking for a chief executive to lead the venture. Project Faro is an internal name, and the final name of the company has not yet been announced.
Project Faro plans dollar stablecoin launch in 2027
The initiative dates back to October 2025, when 10 major banks announced that they were exploring a shared digital payment instrument backed by reserves on a one-to-one basis. The proposed asset was designed to operate on public blockchains and provide a stable payment option for financial transactions.
The original group included Banco Santander, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank and UBS.
In September 2026, the banks announced plans to establish a separate company for the project. By then, the group had expanded to 21 financial institutions. Barclays and BNP Paribas were no longer involved, while BBVA and Lloyds Banking Group had joined the initiative.
The first product is expected to be a US dollar-backed stablecoin, with a market launch planned for the first half of 2027. The consortium also wants to issue tokens linked to other G7 currencies, with the euro as its next priority.
The banks are looking at several areas where the digital assets could be used. These include cross-border payments and settlements involving digital assets, as well as transactions across wholesale, institutional and retail markets.
The expanded group brings together institutions from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Alongside major banks, it includes investment firms Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree. Other participants include Capital One, PNC Financial Services, Scotiabank, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Rabobank and Standard Bank.
The consortium has said that its initiative will follow the requirements of the US GENIUS Act and the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, where applicable. However, the banks have not yet provided details about the technical side of the project.
The banks have yet to say which blockchain they are considering or how the reserves will be managed. They have also not named the institution that will issue the stablecoin.
Tether and Circle currently dominate this market. Their tokens, USDT and USDC, made up about 84% of the stablecoin market, valued at roughly $293 billion on November 10. The figures were cited by Unchained.
Unlike Tether and Circle, Project Faro is being developed by a group of established banks and financial companies. The participants want to issue a shared stablecoin that their clients could use for payments and settlements, without each bank having to launch its token.
