MILWAUKEE — Fiserv said its digital asset platform has gone live with financial institution clients, with its first deployment supporting a dollar-backed stablecoin for transactions among more than 90 participating banks and credit unions in North Dakota.
The first use case is Roughrider Coin, Bank of North Dakota’s initiative to move money across the state’s interbank network. Participating institutions will access it through Commercial Center, Fiserv’s commercial online banking system already used for traditional interbank transfers, the company said.
VersaBank serves as the issuer and handles creation and redemption of tokens, custody and reserve asset management. Fireblocks supplies digital asset infrastructure and tokenization services, while transactions are processed on the Solana blockchain, according to Fiserv.
“By moving from concept to production with leading institutions, we are helping clients unlock new efficiencies in banking and payments,” said Sunil Sachdev, Fiserv’s head of embedded finance and digital assets.
A Tool for Financial Institutions
Bank of North Dakota describes Roughrider Coin as a dollar-backed token deposit designed exclusively for transactions among financial institutions. Participation is voluntary, and the public cannot invest in or access the coin, the bank said.
Each token is backed one-to-one by U.S. dollars. VersaBank USA, a federally chartered bank, issues the asset, while Bank of North Dakota provides governance and oversight.
Although transactions run on Solana’s public blockchain, access to Roughrider Coin is restricted through controls governing which institutions can use it, according to Bank of North Dakota. The bank said the arrangement is intended to provide faster settlement and lower transaction costs without requiring community banks and credit unions to build or maintain their own blockchain infrastructure.
From Announcement to Deployment
Fiserv and Bank of North Dakota announced their partnership in October 2025, with availability to North Dakota banks and credit unions planned for 2026.
Named in honor of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the coin was introduced as a way to improve bank-to-bank transfers and establish a foundation for potential uses involving global money movement and merchant payments. Those broader applications were described as objectives when the partnership was announced.
