The US state of North Dakota is joining the stablecoin trend, with the Bank of North Dakota partnering with payments infrastructure giant Fiserv (FI) to launch a US dollar-backed token for the state’s financial institutions.
The token, dubbed “Roughrider Coin,” is expected to roll out next year and will run on Fiserv’s digital asset platform and connect to its white-label FIUSD system, a stablecoin network designed for regulated banking environments.
The token aims to “increase transactions between banks, encourage the movement of money globally, and drive merchant adoption,” the companies said in a press release.
The news follows Fiserv’s entry in June with its crypto issuance platform on Solana to the rapidly growing stablecoin sector. Stablecoins are increasingly being used as a faster, cheaper and programmable alternative to moving money across blockchains. The asset class reached $293 billion, representing growth of approximately 70% year-over-year. The rapid growth was spurred by the GENIUS Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July, which established a federal framework for stablecoin issuers and opened the legal path for financial institutions to adopt the technology.
With its stablecoin plan, North Dakota joins Wyoming as the latest US state to experiment with crypto. Wyoming rolled out its state-issued Frontier Stable Token earlier this year, and it is currently in the testing phase.
Fiserv processes more than 90 billion transactions annually for 10,000 financial institutions and aims to position itself as a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain technology.
Read more: Stablecoin rise could spark $1 trillion outflow from emerging market banks: Standard Chartered
