North Dakota has run its own state bank since 1919. As of Thursday, that bank has a stablecoin. The company minting it trades in Toronto.
VersaBank Issues Bank of North Dakota’s Roughrider Coin, Now Live
VersaBank (TSX: VBNK; Nasdaq: VBNK) is now the issuer of Roughrider Coin, Bank of North Dakota’s dollar-backed stablecoin, which went live October 1. Its U.S. subsidiary, VersaBank USA, N.A., handles minting, burning, custody and reserve management.
Roughrider Coin is the first product on Fiserv’s new Digital Asset Platform. Fiserv’s own release lays out the stack: VersaBank issues, Fireblocks runs the tokenization infrastructure, and transactions settle on Solana.
The users are banks. The coin is built only for bank-to-bank payments among more than 90 North Dakota community banks and credit unions, accessed through the same Fiserv commercial banking system they already use.
VersaBank landed its first stablecoin custody client, Stablecorp’s Canadian-dollar QCAD, back in April. This time it is the issuer.
No financial terms were disclosed. The release does not say what the deal pays VersaBank or how much Roughrider Coin is in circulation.
BTCS Files SEC Notice to Supply Liquidity for Tokenized Stocks
BTCS Inc. (Nasdaq: BTCS) said on September 28 that its DeFi unit, Imperium, has filed the SEC notice and disclosures it needs to provide liquidity for tokenized equities.
The hook is a September 17 SEC order. It gives temporary, conditional relief from dealer registration to firms supplying liquidity to automated market maker pools, on-chain pools that price trades by formula, trading tokenized NMS stocks.
Nothing is trading yet. The exemption only works on a qualifying Tokenized Securities Venue, and none is operating. BTCS set no launch date and committed no capital.
Any activity would use BTCS’s own capital, with no customer assets held. The exemption runs five years unless modified, and the SEC is still taking comments on it.
CEO Charles Allen pointed out that BTCS tokenized its own Series V preferred stock in 2023 and listed it on Upstream. His verdict: “We were too early.” The company’s market cap sits under $90 million.
Fed Proposes GENIUS Act Reserve and Capital Rules for Stablecoins
The Federal Reserve put two GENIUS Act proposals out for comment on September 24, covering the stablecoin issuers it supervises.
The first requires full backing with permissible reserves such as short-term Treasury bills, plus standardized capital requirements, risk-management standards and rules for firms that safekeep the reserves. The second sets an application process for Fed-supervised banks that want a subsidiary to issue stablecoins, with business plans, financials and an appeals path.
Both landed in the Federal Register on September 29. Comments close 60 days later, in late November. None of it is final.
Governor Michael Barr backed the proposal but wants more on anti-money laundering.
VersaBank’s U.S. arm is a national bank, so its stablecoin rulebook comes from the OCC, not the Fed. Comptroller Jonathan Gould has said the OCC’s final issuer rule is due by November.
VBNK, BTCS, GENIUS Act: Forward-Looking FAQ
None announced. Fiserv said it expects to keep working with VersaBank on additional potential opportunities, but named no clients and no dates.
Only once a qualifying Tokenized Securities Venue is operating under the SEC’s separate venue exemption. BTCS has named no venue, no start date and no capital amount.
Not before comments close in late November. The Fed then has to review them and publish final versions, and no date has been set for that.
Sources
- Newsfile / VersaBank: Versabank Partners with Fiserv to Provide Critical Digital Asset Technology and Custody/Reserve Management Services for Bank of North Dakota’s Roughrider Stablecoin, October 1, 2026
- SEC EDGAR / VersaBank Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1, October 1, 2026
- GlobeNewswire / Fiserv: Fiserv Digital Asset Platform Goes Live with Financial Institution Clients, October 1, 2026
- Yahoo Finance: How the VersaBank (TSX:VBNK) Investment Story Is Evolving With Loan Growth and Stablecoin Custody, April 24, 2026
- Newsfile / BTCS: BTCS Completes Preparations for Imperium Tokenized Equity Liquidity Provisioning, September 28, 2026
- StockTitan: BTCS Inc. (BTCS) Stock Overview
- Federal Reserve Board: Request for public comment on two proposals for Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, September 24, 2026
- The Block: Fed proposes reserve limits, capital standards for stablecoin issuers under GENIUS Act, September 24, 2026
- Paul Hastings: SEC Proposes Regulation Crypto Assets, Treasury and OCC Advance GENIUS Act Rulemaking, August 24, 2026
Editorial Disclosure
Securities discussed: VersaBank (TSX: VBNK; Nasdaq: VBNK) and BTCS Inc. (Nasdaq: BTCS). aktiego.com has not received any compensation from any company mentioned, their management, investor relations representatives, or any third party. No staff member or principal of aktiego.com holds a position in any security mentioned at the time of publication.
These are speculative investments carrying significant risk including potential total loss of capital. Coverage on aktiego.com is provided for informational and educational purposes only. aktiego.com is not a registered investment advisor. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own due diligence and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For more information please see our full DISCLAIMER.
