Three of the marquee names attached to Open USD (OUSD) — Samsung, Dunamu (the parent of Korean exchange Upbit) and internet bank K Bank — say they never formally agreed to join the consortium, and were caught off guard to find themselves listed as partners.

OUSD, backed by Open Standard, was unveiled as a revenue-sharing stablecoin standard with a roster of 140+ "major partners" spanning Coinbase, BlackRock, Visa, Stripe and Mastercard — pitched as a serious challenger to Circle's USDC.

The public denials from three high-profile Korean players cast doubt on how firmly that partner lineup was actually locked in — and on how much of OUSD's headline momentum is real rather than aspirational.