Global Dollar

What it is

Global Dollar (USDG) is a US dollar stablecoin, a token pegged one to one to the dollar, issued by Paxos, the New York-founded firm that has spent over a decade building regulated crypto infrastructure. It launched on 1 November 2024 out of Singapore. The memorable fact is the business model: most stablecoin issuers keep the interest earned on their reserves, which at multi-billion scale is a fortune, whereas USDG was designed to share those economics with the partners who distribute it, an open attempt to buy adoption with yield.

How it works

The token follows the regulated fiat-backed model. Every USDG is backed one to one and redeemable from Paxos for dollars, with reserves held in cash and cash-equivalent assets and monthly reserve reports published for verification, according to globaldollar.com. Issuance sits with two regulated entities: Paxos Digital Singapore, supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and designed to align with its stablecoin framework, and Paxos Issuance Europe, overseen under the EU’s MiCA regime. DBS Bank, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, was named at launch as primary banking partner holding reserves. Around the token sits the Global Dollar Network, whose members earn rewards for driving USDG usage, aligning exchanges, wallets and fintechs behind one stablecoin.

The story so far

Paxos knows the stablecoin business from both sides. It issued BUSD, once a top-three stablecoin, until February 2023, when the New York State Department of Financial Services ordered it to stop minting new tokens. USDG is the considered response: multi-jurisdiction regulation from day one and distribution built on shared incentives. The Global Dollar Network launched in November 2024 with founding partners including Robinhood, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, Anchorage Digital, Bullish and Nuvei, and in July 2026 the network reported passing 150 partners and $3 billion in circulation, according to its own newsroom. A European launch followed under MiCA, and in July 2026 USDG went live on Robinhood Chain, the brokerage’s own blockchain.

Where it stands

On 13 October 2026 at 01:46 UTC, USDG traded at $1, with a market value of about $3.11 billion and a rank of 36 among the assets tracked by CoinGecko. What to watch next: whether yield-sharing keeps pulling major platforms into the network, how the GENIUS Act era in the US and MiCA in Europe reshape the competitive field it was built for, and whether reserve reporting stays prompt and clean. USDG is a test of a simple idea, that distribution follows economics, and as of October 2026 the experiment holds about $3.2 billion in circulation.

USDG reached Arbitrum on 6 October

Arbitrum’s 6 October announcement confirms USDG’s launch on Arbitrum One and the start of DRIP Season 2. A separate governance proposal requests an additional 100 million ARB for incentives. That extra budget remains proposed in the reviewed discussion.