The telecommunications industry stands at a unique crossroads. On one side, the GSMA’s recent white paper on Telco Stablecoins lays out a blueprint for how telecom operators can harness blockchain-based stablecoins to transform payments and settlements. On the other side was OpenCryptoTrust (OpenCT white paper), a once-promising blockchain-driven rethink of telco infrastructure. Though it achieved proof-of-concept (POC) status, OpenCT was never fully delivered into the marketplace.
While these two initiatives emerged in different timeframes, their complementary potential still offers insight into how programmable money and programmable infrastructure could jointly reshape telecom. This article explores how OpenCT could have acted as a complementary infrastructure layer to GSMA’s stablecoin vision, enabling a truly decentralized, interoperable, and efficient telecom ecosystem. We’ll assess the potential synergies, missed opportunities, and challenges.
GSMA’s Stablecoin Framework: A Recap
GSMA proposes that stablecoins—blockchain-based digital tokens pegged to fiat—could enable:
- Real-time cross-border settlements
- Low-cost remittances and mobile money services
- IoT micropayments and embedded billing
- Financial inclusion in underbanked regions
This vision assumes a robust, compliant foundation involving:
- Regulated custodianship of reserves
- Wallet interoperability
- KYC/AML compliance
- Centralized or decentralized governance (depending on design)
OpenCT: A Pioneering Network Model That Didn’t Launch
OpenCryptoTrust (OpenCT) was designed to disrupt how telecom infrastructure operates. It introduced:
- Blockchain as a Transport (BaaT): A VXLAN-overlay built over blockchain, eliminating the need for expensive MPLS or VPN circuits.
- Blockchain-Defined WAN (BD-WAN): A real-time bandwidth marketplace with billing hardcoded into blockchain.
- Hybrid consensus models (PoD + DPoS): Allowing fair, scalable participation in network governance.
Though these concepts reached POC and showcased significant technical potential, OpenCT ultimately did not see mainstream market deployment.
Why These Layers Could Have Fit Together
1. A Trustless, End-to-End Telco Stack
GSMA focuses on money and identity; OpenCT focused on connectivity and bandwidth. Together, they could have formed a full-stack:
GSMA = Programmable value layer
OpenCT = Programmable network layer
One could imagine cross-border prepaid data bundles purchased via stablecoins, where usage was dynamically billed and verified through OpenCT’s BD-WAN. Or IoT devices paying micro-fees in stablecoins per megabyte, measured by OpenCT’s blockchain transport layer.
2. Decentralized Settlement Meets Decentralized Transport
OpenCT’s decentralized, blockchain-based network control aligned philosophically and operationally with GSMA’s push for programmable, decentralized finance. Both sought to reduce reliance on intermediaries, increase transparency, and support embedded automation.
3. Improved Inclusion and Cost Reduction
While GSMA aims to remove financial friction for the underbanked, OpenCT aimed to reduce infrastructure friction for underserved regions lacking reliable WAN access. Together, they might have dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for new telco services.
Challenges and Why OpenCT Stalled
1. Integration Complexity
Aligning a programmable money layer with a programmable network layer required complex orchestration. APIs, smart contract interfaces, and cross-chain data interoperability presented steep challenges.
2. Regulatory Divergence
GSMA’s stablecoin models prioritize compliance with financial regulations (MiCA, FATF). OpenCT’s decentralized infrastructure may have challenged traditional regulatory models for telecom services—especially with its distributed control plane.
3. Market Fragmentation and Limited Adoption
While GSMA works with established MNOs and continues to shape standards, OpenCT struggled to find market traction. Competing centralized SD-WAN and telco cloud offerings outpaced it in adoption.
4. SLA and Enterprise Readiness
OpenCT’s architecture raised questions about its ability to guarantee enterprise-grade SLAs. While blockchain offers transparency, it complicated real-time resolution compared to traditional NOC systems.
Conclusion: A Vision Worth Revisiting
OpenCT and GSMA didn’t overlap in time, but their concepts still resonate. GSMA’s stablecoins solve the financial plumbing of telecom; OpenCT attempted to rewire the physical and logical plumbing underneath.
For telecom operators today, the opportunity lies in modular innovation: GSMA’s stablecoin stack can power financial automation, and the ideas behind OpenCT remain instructive for any effort aiming to decentralize bandwidth billing, data transport, or telco network control.
Though OpenCT never fully launched, its architectural vision—programmable networks paired with token-based billing—remains a tantalizing reference point. If revived or reimagined, it could serve as the “Web3 telco chassis” upon which programmable money like GSMA stablecoins can ride.
The future may still belong to layered systems—and OpenCT, even in hindsight, offered a glimpse of what a programmable transport foundation could look like.