U.S. Bancorp, collaborating with the Stellar Development Foundation and PwC, is piloting a custom stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain starting November 25, 2025.
This significant move by a major U.S. bank highlights growing institutional interest and investment in blockchain-native programmable money infrastructure, potentially influencing the future of digital financial transactions.
U.S. Bancorp, the fifth-largest bank in America, has initiated the pilot of a custom stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. This effort underscores an innovative approach towards programmable money infrastructure within the bank’s digital asset strategy.
Collaborating with the Stellar Development Foundation and PwC, U.S. Bancorp focuses on leveraging Stellar’s compliance features. This collaboration reflects the bank’s commitment to expanding digital asset capabilities and enhancing financial services efficiency.
Stellar Compliance Features Attract Financial Institutions
The pilot’s introduction signals a broader move by financial institutions into blockchain technologies. Stellar’s asset control features align with regulatory priorities, while allowing U.S. Bancorp to explore programmable money efficiently. Institutional interest in blockchain solutions is expected to grow.
The initiative supports the growing trend among banks using “infrastructure-first” blockchains. Historical trends indicate that such moves increase institutional interest. Although there are no immediate regulatory statements, the pilot complies with existing frameworks provided by Stellar. Mike Villano, Senior Vice President, Head of Digital Asset Products at U.S. Bank, stated,
“For bank customers, we have to think about other protections around know your customers, the ability to unwind transactions, the ability to clawback transactions, and one of the great things about the Stellar platform as we did some more research and development on it was learning that they have the ability at their base operating layer to freeze assets and unwind transactions.”
Comparison with JPMorgan’s Blockchain Strategies
Similar to JPMorgan’s use of JPM Coin on a private Ethereum fork, U.S. Bancorp’s pilot enhances blockchain credibility. Previous partnerships such as Stellar-IBM World Wire have modest short-term effects but significantly improve long-term visibility.
Experts suggest this effort could boost Stellar’s market position due to institutional involvement. Historical data shows stablecoin pilots raised interest in blockchain platforms, potentially increasing engagement and use of institutional-sector blockchain technology.
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