The company plans to launch a digital asset platform that includes a new stablecoin (FIUSD) that will be added to Fiserv’s banking and payments infrastructure by the year’s end, according to a Monday (June 23) press release. The platform will help the firm’s regional and community bank clients embrace stablecoins’ entry into the traditional finance space.
“FIUSD presents Fiserv customers with access to a new, more efficient and interoperable digital asset service for their banking and payment flows,” the release said.
Offering the coin across Fiserv’s network, which includes relationships with roughly 10,000 financial institutions and 6 million merchant locations worldwide, will “provide instant scale for FIUSD while creating a digital asset network that clients can use to build new products and services,” per the release.
Fiserv intends to use stablecoin infrastructure from Paxos and Circle with the goal of making it interoperable with several stablecoins, and it will be available to Fiserv clients through the Solana blockchain, according to the release.
“In addition, the company is exploring the use of deposit tokens to maintain the benefits of stablecoins in a more capital-friendly structure for banks,” talking with other possible partners to find more use cases for stablecoins and tokenized deposits, per the release.
Fiserv Chief Operating Officer Takis Georgakopoulos said in the release that the new effort will help “democratize access” in the stablecoin market.
“Together with our other cloud-native banking and merchant platforms, we believe FIUSD will provide our clients with the efficiency and optionality they need to thrive in the evolving banking and payments ecosystem,” Georgakopoulos said in the release.
The announcement is the latest example of the growing embrace of stablecoins, with retailers such as Walmart and Amazon looking to launch coins of their own.
“The rationale is straightforward,” PYMNTS noted in a report last week on the Walmart/Amazon rivalry. “By creating blockchain-based currencies that are pegged to fiat money, these retailers could sidestep traditional payment processors, reduce transaction fees and accelerate settlement times.”
In addition, a group of the country’s largest banks — J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup — are reportedly exploring the launch of a jointly operated stablecoin.
“The timing of this venture is no coincidence,” PYMNTS wrote in May. “For years, stablecoins … have promised to blend the best of both worlds: the efficiency of blockchain transactions and the stability of fiat currency.”