Origin Dollar (OUSD): What It Is, Uses and Risks

Origin Dollar (OUSD) is a stablecoin that is meant to stay close to one US dollar, and it is designed to pay its holders a yield while they keep it in a wallet. According to the project's own description, it is backed by USDC, and the reserves are placed into decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols such as Morpho and Curve to earn returns. The protocol moves capital between strategies in an attempt to improve those returns for holders. OUSD was built by the team at Origin Protocol, which also issues the OGN token. Public write-ups from its 2020 launch describe the same idea: a dollar-pegged token whose reserves work in DeFi so that balances grow over time. The token is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. It is not a native token of any blockchain.

The main feature of OUSD is its daily rebase. Instead of paying yield as a separate token or requiring a deposit into a pool, the protocol adjusts each holder's token balance once a day so that the yield appears as a larger balance. The number of tokens in a wallet can therefore rise over time, while the price per token is meant to stay near one dollar. Public material also says the protocol uses Chainlink Keepers, now known as automation tools, to schedule rebasing and harvesting tasks. Yield depends on the strategies running in the background, so it can rise or fall. Advertised annual yields are not guaranteed, and the figures shown on any site may not reflect what a holder receives after fees or market changes. Readers should treat any yield figure as a moving estimate rather than a promise.

At the time of writing, as of 2026-11-05, the data showed OUSD trading at about $0.9994, with a market capitalisation of roughly $6.3 million and a 24-hour trading volume of about $178,000. The token ranked around 1,552nd by market capitalisation. Circulating supply was about 6.29 million tokens, and the total supply was the same, with no fixed maximum listed. Its all-time high was about $7.46 on 2021-05-18, and its all-time low was about $0.146 on 2020-11-16. The recent seven-day and one-year price changes were very small, which fits a token that is meant to stay close to one dollar. These figures change constantly and should be checked on a live data source before any decision. This page does not give price predictions or advice on buying or selling.

OUSD is issued on Ethereum and follows the ERC-20 standard, so it can be held in wallets and used in apps that support that standard. Its market data shows a small market value compared with the largest stablecoins, so liquidity on exchanges may be thin and large trades could move the price. Be careful with the name. Open USD (OUSD) is a separate project that describes itself as a neutral stablecoin for payments companies and banks, and public reporting can mix the two up. Before sending funds, check the contract address against the issuer's official documentation rather than trusting a token name or ticker. Some rebasing tokens also behave differently from ordinary tokens in other DeFi apps, because a balance can change without a transfer. Users who move OUSD into other protocols should check how that app counts balances.

Holding OUSD carries several risks. The first is smart contract risk, since the token, the rebase logic and the connected DeFi strategies all depend on code that could contain bugs or be exploited. The second is reserve and peg risk. The project says it is backed by USDC, but the peg can slip if the reserves, the strategies or market demand change, and a stablecoin can trade below one dollar. The third is strategy risk, because yields come from lending and liquidity activity that can lose money or become less profitable. Liquidity is also a concern given the small market value. For storage, a self-custody wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens is the usual choice. Keep recovery phrases offline, confirm the token contract before swapping, and avoid sending tokens to an address you have not verified. Only put in an amount you could afford to lose.