North Dakota has launched Roughrider Coin, a U.S. dollar-backed token deposit designed for bank-to-bank transactions across the state's community banks and credit unions.

Led by the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, the programme combines public oversight with infrastructure from Fiserv, issuance by VersaBank USA, digital asset infrastructure from Fireblocks and settlement on the Solana blockchain.

StableTokens tracks verified governance updates, reserve arrangements, infrastructure developments, adoption and implementation milestones as Roughrider Coin moves from launch into operational use.

Status: 🟢 Launching / Live

North Dakota has moved from developing digital financial infrastructure to operating it.

Bank of North Dakota and its partners have launched Roughrider Coin as a fully reserved, permissioned digital asset designed exclusively for transactions between financial institutions.

Fiserv confirmed on October 1, 2026 that Roughrider Coin is the first live use case on its Digital Asset Platform. The platform is now in production with financial institution clients.

Bank of North Dakota provides governance and oversight. VersaBank USA issues Roughrider Coin and provides custody services, including minting, burning and reserve asset management. Fiserv provides the digital asset platform, while Fireblocks supplies secure digital asset infrastructure and tokenisation services. Transactions are processed on Solana.

Roughrider Coin is not currently a retail product. Participation is voluntary and restricted to financial institutions.

StableTokens therefore classifies North Dakota as 🟢 Launching / Live because the programme has progressed beyond development and into verified operational deployment. Bank of North Dakota

StableTokens prioritises primary public sources when assessing the development and classification of Roughrider Coin.

Bank of North Dakota - Roughrider Coin

Official programme information covering launch status, governance, institutional access, backing, issuance, minting and burning, compliance controls and infrastructure.

Fiserv - Digital Asset Platform Goes Live

Fiserv's October 2026 announcement confirming Roughrider Coin as the first live use case on its Digital Asset Platform.

Bank of North Dakota - Original Roughrider Coin Announcement

The October 2025 announcement confirming the Bank of North Dakota and Fiserv partnership and the planned deployment of Roughrider Coin.

North Dakota Industrial Commission

Official state documentation covering Bank of North Dakota oversight and earlier consideration of the Roughrider Coin business use case.

This tracker is updated as new verified public information becomes available.

Roughrider Coin is a U.S. dollar-backed token deposit designed to provide North Dakota's banks and credit unions with another way to move money between financial institutions.

Bank of North Dakota describes it as a permissioned, fully reserved asset used only by financial institutions. Fiserv describes Roughrider Coin as a dollar-backed stablecoin.

The token operates on the Solana blockchain but is issued and governed within a regulated banking framework.

VersaBank USA, an OCC-chartered U.S. bank, issues Roughrider Coin. Financial institutions transact using Fireblocks-secured multi-party computation wallets, while Fiserv provides the platform through which transactions are initiated, approved and settled.

The programme is designed so participating institutions can use digital settlement infrastructure without having to build or manage blockchain systems themselves.

North Dakota's approach is centred on modernising existing financial infrastructure rather than creating a speculative digital asset.

Roughrider Coin is designed for bank-to-bank transactions, including treasury operations and loan payoffs.

Participating financial institutions access the system through existing Bank of North Dakota operational channels and Fiserv infrastructure. This allows blockchain settlement to operate beneath familiar banking workflows rather than requiring community banks and credit unions to become cryptocurrency operators.

Fiserv says more than 90 participating North Dakota banks and credit unions can use Roughrider Coin for bank-to-bank transactions.

This does not mean that all eligible institutions are actively transacting with Roughrider Coin. StableTokens will monitor verified adoption and transaction data as it becomes publicly available. Bank of North Dakota

Bank of North Dakota provides governance and oversight for Roughrider Coin.

Founded in 1919, BND is the only state-owned bank in the United States. Its existing relationship with North Dakota's community banks and credit unions provides the institutional framework through which Roughrider Coin is being deployed.

The programme separates several important responsibilities.

Bank of North Dakota provides governance and oversight.

VersaBank USA issues Roughrider Coin and provides custody and reserve asset management.

Fiserv provides the Digital Asset Platform and banking infrastructure.

Fireblocks provides secure digital asset infrastructure and tokenisation services.

Solana provides the blockchain on which transactions are processed.

This structure distinguishes North Dakota's model from Wyoming's FRNT, where the state itself is the issuer.

Roughrider Coin is the first live use case on Fiserv's Digital Asset Platform.

Participating banks and credit unions can access Roughrider Coin through Fiserv's Commercial Center, an online banking system already used by financial institutions for conventional interbank money movement.

This is an important feature of North Dakota's approach.

Rather than building a separate crypto-facing experience, the programme integrates digital asset settlement into existing financial institution workflows.

Fiserv's wider platform is also designed to support tokenised deposits, stablecoin payments, cross-border payments, programmable commerce, treasury automation and global currency account services.

Roughrider Coin therefore represents an early operational example of digital asset infrastructure being incorporated into established banking systems. Fiserv, Inc.

Bank of North Dakota states that every Roughrider Coin is backed one-to-one by U.S. dollars.

Minting takes place only after funds are transferred from a participating financial institution's operating account into a designated account.

Each participating institution maintains a VersaBank custody account, while funds across the system are netted daily against a VersaBank concentration account held at Bank of North Dakota.

The structure is designed to maintain one-to-one reserve backing while keeping the underlying deposits inside the regulated banking system.

StableTokens will continue monitoring official disclosures relating to reserves, custody, attestations and reporting arrangements as operational use develops. Bank of North Dakota

One of the more distinctive features of Roughrider Coin is its minting and burning process.

Tokens are created after the corresponding conventional funds have been confirmed.

When Roughrider Coin reaches the receiving financial institution's wallet, an automatic burn process can immediately trigger a smart contract instruction.

This design keeps outstanding token balances low and allows Roughrider Coin to function primarily as a settlement instrument.

Rather than requiring tokens to remain continuously in circulation, Roughrider Coin can be created when value needs to move between institutions and extinguished once that movement has been completed.

Bank of North Dakota describes the system as providing near-instant settlement with no conventional banking cutoff times and availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Bank of North Dakota

Although Roughrider Coin operates on the permissionless Solana blockchain, the asset itself is permissioned.

Bank of North Dakota says the architecture uses Solana Token-2022 controls, including freeze and clawback functionality.

Participating institutions use Fireblocks-secured wallets, while Fiserv provides centralised compliance infrastructure including Travel Rule enforcement, anti-money-laundering screening, OFAC sanctions screening and anomaly detection.

The result combines public blockchain settlement infrastructure with access and compliance controls designed for regulated financial institutions. Bank of North Dakota

Bank of North Dakota and Fiserv publicly announced Roughrider Coin.

The announcement described it as fully backed by U.S. dollars and intended for North Dakota banks and credit unions during 2026.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission had approved Bank of North Dakota moving forward with the initiative.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission's March 25 agenda included consideration of approval of the Roughrider Coin business use case, demonstrating continued formal implementation work at the state level.

Bank of North Dakota published further details describing Roughrider Coin as a new service coming in 2026.

The Bank said the digital asset would integrate with existing banking systems through Fiserv and could support instant payments, embedded finance and cross-institution settlement.

Roughrider Coin launched.

Bank of North Dakota confirmed that it and its partners had launched the U.S. dollar-backed token deposit for bank-to-bank transactions.

Fiserv separately confirmed that its Digital Asset Platform had entered live production with financial institution clients and identified Roughrider Coin as the platform's first live use case.

VersaBank USA serves as issuer, Fireblocks provides digital asset infrastructure and transactions are processed on Solana.

This verified operational deployment moved North Dakota from 🔵 In Development to 🟢 Launching / Live under the StableTokens classification methodology. Bank of North Dakota

StableTokens continues to monitor verified public developments relating to Roughrider Coin, including:

• Adoption by participating banks and credit unions
• Transaction volumes and operational usage
• Reserve disclosures and attestations
• Governance developments
• Fiserv infrastructure milestones
• Additional institutional use cases
• Interoperability developments
• Changes to issuance or custody arrangements
• Any expansion beyond institutional settlement

The next phase will provide evidence of how extensively North Dakota's financial institutions use the infrastructure now that Roughrider Coin is operational.

North Dakota: 🟢 Launching / Live

North Dakota is classified as Launching / Live because Roughrider Coin has progressed beyond investigation, development and beta testing into verified operational deployment.

Bank of North Dakota and Fiserv have both confirmed the launch, while Fiserv identifies Roughrider Coin as the first live use case on its production Digital Asset Platform.

North Dakota's model differs from Wyoming's FRNT. Roughrider Coin is issued by VersaBank USA rather than directly by the state. Bank of North Dakota, however, provides governance and oversight through the state's publicly owned banking institution.

StableTokens therefore distinguishes between state-issued and state-governed models while recognising both within the wider state-backed stable token landscape.

Last verified: 3 October 2026

Editorial Standard: Evidence-based. Transparent. Public.

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