The U.S. state of North Dakota is joining the stablecoin trend, with state-owned Bank of North Dakota teaming up with payments infrastructure giant Fiserv (FI) to launch a U.S. dollar-backed token aimed at financial institutions across the state. The token, dubbed "Roughrider Coin," is expected to roll out next year and will run on Fiserv’s digital asset platform and plug into its white-label FIUSD system, a stablecoin network designed for regulated banking environments. The token is aimed to "increase bank-to-bank transactions, encourage global money movement and drive merchant adoption," the firms said in a press release. The news follows Fiserv's June entrance with its crypto issuance platform on Solana (SOL) to the fast-growing stablecoin sector. Stablecoins are increasingly used as a faster, cheaper and programmable alternative for moving money on top of blockchains. The asset class swelled to $293 billion, expanding roughly 70% in a year. The fast-paced growth was spurred by the GENIUS Act, signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump in July, which set a federal framework for stablecoin issuers and cleared a legal path for financial institutions to adopt the technology. With its stablecoin plan, North Dakota is joining Wyoming as the latest U.S. state experimenting with crypto. Wyoming has deployed its state-issued Frontier Stable Token earlier this year, and it is currently in a test phase. Fiserv processes over 90 billion transactions a year for 10,000 financial institutions, and aims to position itself as a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain tech. Read more: Stablecoin Surge Could Trigger $1T Exit From Emerging Market Banks: Standard Chartered
