In this video Alexander Lorenzo reports that the Bank of North Dakota has launched a dollar‑backed token, Rough Riders Coin, on the Solana blockchain to enable interbank payments among a network of over 90 community banks and credit unions. The token’s lifecycle is tightly coupled to traditional bank accounts: funds are moved from the sender’s operating account to a designated account, the system verifies the funding, then mints tokens that travel on Solana to the receiver’s wallet, where they are automatically burned. Underlying account movements are netted off‑chain daily, keeping on‑chain token balances low. The platform, issued by Versa Bank and powered by Fiserv’s Commercial Center banking software, is intended for treasury operations, loan payoffs, and other liquidity‑moving tasks. The launch announcement did not disclose transaction volume or value transferred.
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North Dakota's bank dollars now travel through Solana. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but North Dakota banks now have a dollar token designed to do a specific job, move a payment, then come out the circulation when it reaches the receiving institution through stablecoins, and it goes through Solana. On October 1st, they announced its digital asset platform was actually live. The first application is through Rough Riders Coin built for the Bank of North Dakota's network of community banks and credit unions. Crypto is really getting established right now. And the interesting part is that the life cycle of money itself— start with a bank that needs to send funds to another institution. The Bank of North Dakota says the funding first moves from the sending bank's operating account to a designated account. The system confirms that funding before creating any tokens. Those dollar-backed tokens can travel to the receiving bank's wallet on Solana. When they arrive, the automatic instruction starts burning them. Burning means basically removing the tokens from circulation. The dollars back in the transaction remain inside the actual system. So the token is being used to basically complete a transfer with its creation and removal tied to the actual bank accounts themselves. The design deliberately keeps token balances low, underlying account movements are netted daily, separately from the blockchain transaction. That's a specific use for a public blockchain. It becomes a route between financial institutions, with the bank accounts, approvals, and accounting connected all around it. The bank lists treasury operations and loan payoffs as applications. Think about the work of moving liquidity, completing a payment tied to lending. These are jobs throughout the entire financial system. Roughrider gives participating institutions another way to perform them. Versa Bank issues the token and Fiserv supplies the actual platform institution access through Commercial Center, which is their actual banking software. They can describe it as a network of more than 90 participating banks and credit unions. The launch announcement doesn't disclose how many completed transactions or the actual value that's transferred
