TAMPA, Fla. — Velera has named nine credit unions and five technology and financial services companies to the inaugural cohort of its Digital Asset Lab, an initiative focused on evaluating and testing stablecoins, tokenized deposits and other digital asset applications for credit unions.
Launched in August 2025, the Digital Asset Lab brings together credit unions, technology providers and other industry participants to explore digital asset infrastructure, regulation and potential use cases.
Velera said the initiative is examining areas including distributed ledger infrastructure and connectivity, blockchain networks, core banking integrations and strategic partnerships.
Since launching the lab, Velera said it has researched the emerging digital asset ecosystem, including regulatory developments, technology maturity, operational issues and potential credit union-specific applications. That work included evaluating potential technology partners and solution providers.
Assessing What is Relevant
“As new forms of digital money and payment infrastructure continue to evolve, credit unions must be equipped to assess what is relevant, what is viable and what will truly benefit their members,” Nathan Meyer, Velera senior innovation strategist, said in a statement.. “This inaugural cohort gives the industry an opportunity to learn together, test responsibly and help define a credit union-led path forward for digital assets.”
The Participating CUs
Credit unions participating in the inaugural cohort are:
- BankFund Credit Union, Washington, D.C.
- Coastal Credit Union, North Carolina.
- Corporate One Federal Credit Union, Ohio.
- Kemba Credit Union, Ohio.
- orsa credit union, Michigan.
- Service 1st Federal Credit Union, Pennsylvania.
- Teachers Federal Credit Union, New York.
- Valley Strong Credit Union, California.
- 7 17 Credit Union, Ohio.
Five Solutions Providers
Velera said the credit unions will work with five participating solution providers:
- Anchorage Digital, which provides institutional digital asset custody, settlement, staking, stablecoin issuance and other infrastructure services.
- Mastercard, which is working on digital asset and blockchain-enabled payment solutions.
- Stablecore, which provides infrastructure for integrating stablecoins, tokenized deposits and other payment rails with existing digital banking, core and compliance systems.
- TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence company focused on risk management, fraud detection and digital asset compliance.
- TruStage Digital Assets, an issuer of stablecoins designed for credit unions.
The Initial Focus
The cohort will initially concentrate on research, education and evaluation of stablecoins and tokenized deposits, Velera said. Its work will include examining infrastructure, risk, compliance, interoperability and member-experience issues associated with potential credit union applications.
Velera said findings from the group could be used to develop proofs of concept and pilot programs as the CUSO evaluates opportunities to offer digital asset solutions to credit unions on a broader scale.
