140 Companies Just Declared War on Circle - The Chopping Block

Summary

The panel discusses MicroStrategy’s digital credit framework and the recovery of its Stretch preferred after a sell-off. They debate the significance of the new OpenUSD stablecoin consortium with 140 partners aiming to break the Circle/Tether duopoly. A brief update on the Ansem memecoin revival and ENS DAO governance wraps up the episode.

• MicroStrategy (MSTR) fell ~30% and Stretch (STRC) dropped to $71, prompting Saylor to announce a cash cushion, dividend hike to 12%, and buyback plan.
• Jordi Alexander argues the death-spiral fears are overblown because Bitcoin is scarce and Saylor's cash reserves buy time.
• Tarun remains skeptical, comparing the marketing to Anchor, but acknowledges the structure can persist for a while.
• OpenUSD (OSD) launches as a no-fee stablecoin backed by 140 firms including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, and Coinbase.
• The consortium aims to commoditize stablecoins, but panelists question whether a large consortium can execute without a central muscle.
• Circle’s valuation or related interest fell ~7-8% on the news; Tether’s CEO welcomed a real competitor.
• Ansem’s namesake memecoin reached a $100M market cap, sparking talk of a memecoin revival, though the panel is largely dismissive.
• ENS DAO restructuring blocked by a single large voter, reigniting the “DAOs are fake” debate.