Fiserv has announced a new digital assets platform and stablecoin named FIUSD that will be accessible to its network of banks and credit unions by year-end. This move aims to significantly expand the range of financial institutions capable of offering crypto services.

FIUSD: Built on Solana and Paxos Technology

The FIUSD stablecoin, which will debut after integration with the Solana blockchain, is part of this initiative. Solana has gained traction among financial institutions due to its speed and lower transaction costs compared to Ethereum. Fiserv’s platform leverages infrastructure from stablecoin leaders Paxos and Circle.

Speedy Upgrade and Future Prospects

Solana plans a major upgrade later this year that will not only make it faster than competing blockchains but also outpace established payment networks like Visa and Mastercard in terms of transaction speed. This advancement is crucial for the platform’s competitiveness.

Interoperability and Global Reach

To foster interoperability, Fiserv has partnered with PayPal to integrate FIUSD with PYUSD, PayPal’s stablecoin issued by a payments company. Combining their global customer bases will help accelerate the adoption of these technologies. This partnership leverages Fiserv’s existing fraud monitoring and risk management systems for compliance.

Expanding Use Cases: Tokenization

Banks are increasingly recognizing digital assets as valuable opportunities, though many remain constrained by compliance concerns. FIUSD is designed with a compliance-first approach to provide financial institutions full control over stablecoins. The platform also explores tokenization of real-world assets to simplify complex and costly transactions.