North Dakota stakes claim in crypto with Roughrider stablecoin

Bank of North Dakota is leveraging its unique position as the nation’s only state-owned bank to launch the “Roughrider” stablecoin in partnership with Fiserv. The move aims to modernize its financial infrastructure and assert state-level sovereignty in the digital-asset space.

According to a press release Oct. 8, the Bank of North Dakota (BND) has partnered with financial-services giant Fiserv to develop “Roughrider Coin,” a dollar-pegged stablecoin slated for a 2026 launch.

BND said the asset will be built on Fiserv’s proprietary digital-asset platform and is designed specifically for use by the state’s local banks and credit unions.

A state legacy meets blockchain innovation

The “Roughrider” moniker nods to the state’s history, honoring former President Theodore Roosevelt and his volunteer cavalry regiment. Beyond the symbolism, the coin has a clear mandate.

According to the release, its primary objectives are to increase the efficiency of bank-to-bank transactions, simplify cross-border money movement, and drive adoption among local merchants, creating a more integrated digital economy within the state. The North Dakota leadership is framing Roughrider as a necessary evolution of public finance.

“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,” Governor Kelly Armstrong said. “The new financial frontier is here, and The Bank of North Dakota and Fiserv are helping North Dakota financial institutions embrace new ways of moving money with the Roughrider coin.”

The Roughrider coin will be the first state-issued stablecoin in the U.S. to launch on the Fiserv digital-asset platform, a blockchain payments system unveiled earlier this year alongside Fiserv’s own FIUSD stablecoin.

Fiserv’s involvement adds both technical credibility and scale. The Wisconsin-based fintech processes roughly 90 billion transactions annually across 10,000 financial institutions and six million merchant locations worldwide.

Roughrider’s launch also follows a growing trend of state experimentation with stablecoins. In August, Wyoming launched its own state-backed token under the Stable Token Commission, following new federal legislation that clarified how dollar-pegged digital assets can operate within U.S. financial law.