Fiserv, a Fortune 500 payments and fintech giant that processes 90 billion transactions annually, unveiled plans on Monday to launch a new digital asset platform and stablecoin, joining a roster of traditional financial firms rushing to capitalize on the stablecoin boom.
The FIUSD stablecoin, planned to debut later this year, will be available to Fiserv’s roughly 10,000 financial institution clients including regional banks and 6 million merchant locations, the firm said in a press release.
The token will run on Solana SOL, a blockchain known for its speedy transactions, and will use back-end infrastructure from stablecoin issuers Circle (CRCL) and Paxos. According to the company, FIUSD will eventually interoperate with other leading stablecoins, while the platform will also explore using deposit tokens, or blockchain-based versions of customer deposits,
Rather than trying to upend the current system, Fiserv is positioning FIUSD as a “bank-friendly” piece of infrastruture that works together with traditional payment rails, with built-in compliance, fraud and risk monitoring tools.
In a separate announcement, Fiserv said it’s partnering with PayPal (PYPL) to link FIUSD with PayPal USD (PYUSD), enabling businesses and consumers to move stablecoins between platforms. The two firms aim to streamline cross-border transfers, payouts, and vendor payments using interoperable digital dollars, a press release said.
“Fiserv is uniquely positioned to advance stablecoin-powered payments and help democratize access to blockchain financial services,” said Takis Georgakopoulos, chief operating officer of Fiserv. “We believe FIUSD will provide our clients with the efficiency and optionality they need to thrive in the evolving banking and payments ecosystem.”
The move reflects a growing push among global banks and traditional financial behemoths to embed blockchain technology and stablecoins, a type of digital currency with prices anchored to an external asset such as fiat currencies, into their offerings. The trend is accelerating as the U.S. Senate passed the so-called GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins. For example, JP Morgan unveiled a deposit token JPMD for institutional clients with a test transaction on Ethereum layer-2 Base.
