State-Owned Bank of North Dakota Partners With Fiserv to Launch Stablecoin

Bank of North Dakota, a state-owned bank, partnered with Fiserv to launch a stablecoin.

Dubbed the Roughrider coin in honor of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the coin is fully backed by U.S. dollars and is designed to facilitate bank-to-bank transactions, global money movement and merchant adoption, the organizations said in a Wednesday (Oct. 8) press release.

It is set to be offered to banks and credit unions in North Dakota in 2026, according to the release.

“As one of the first states to issue our own stablecoin backed by real money, North Dakota is taking a cutting-edge approach to creating a secure and efficient financial ecosystem for our citizens,” North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong said in the release.

Bank of North Dakota CEO Don Morgan said in the release that the development of the Roughrider coin “capitalizes on recent changes in federal law, and ensures the continued health, resilience and relevancy of the North Dakota financial industry for its citizens.”

The Roughrider coin will be the first U.S. state stablecoin to launch on Fiserv’s digital asset platform, which was launched in June, according to the release. The platform is designed to provide Fiserv customers with an efficient and interoperable digital asset payment service for banking and payment flows, per the release.

“With Roughrider Coin, we’re bringing together the reliability of traditional finance and the innovation of blockchain to deliver faster and smarter digital payments,” Fiserv Chief Operating Officer Takis Georgakopoulos said in the release.

Fiserv unveiled its digital asset platform and a new stablecoin called FIUSD in June, saying the platform will help the company’s regional and community bank clients embrace stablecoins’ entry into the traditional finance space.

In another Wednesday press release, the North Dakota Industrial Commission, which consists of Armstrong, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agricultural Commissioner Doug Goehring, and oversees the Bank of North Dakota, said the stablecoin will enable faster, more secure bank-to-bank transactions anywhere in the world.

“By encouraging the financial sector to adopt stablecoin first, the state is building a strong foundation for eventual use of stablecoin by merchants and their customers,” the release said. “And by partnering with Fiserv, the state is able to plug into existing secure blockchain rather than having to build the infrastructure from scratch.”

Wyoming launched a state-issued stablecoin in August, saying the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) will be fully backed by U.S. dollars and short-duration Treasurys, overcollateralized by 2%, and capable of providing instant transaction settlement, reduced fees and enhanced accessibility.

Joel Revill, CEO of Two Ocean Trust and commissioner of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in February that the stablecoin will operate on a “more transparent, lower cost, secure payment rail vs. the … archaic payment rails that Wyoming citizens, and everyone else, are subject to.”