The news
Stablecoins, digital tokens designed to hold a steady value against the dollar, have a demand problem among US companies, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland published September 28, 2026. Economists Brooke Dirtzu, Geena Panzitta and Peter Zimmerman found little sign of corporate demand, even after the GENIUS Act set out federal rules meant to ease stablecoin issuance.
The researchers added stablecoin questions to the Cleveland Fed's September 2025 business survey and received answers from 148 firms in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and northern West Virginia. Only one firm was actively using stablecoins, and seven said they planned to adopt them; 140 had no plans, limited knowledge or were unsure. Common reasons included satisfaction with existing payment methods and a lack of demand from customers and suppliers. The authors also said news searches and public filings showed no evidence of nonfinancial companies holding substantive stablecoin amounts.
In an October 6 article, PYMNTS said its own research points the same way. PYMNTS Intelligence found 42% of middle-market companies had discussed, tested or used stablecoins, but only 13% were actually using them, and 88% of firms that receive stablecoins convert them into US dollars immediately.
Infrastructure is moving ahead regardless. On October 1, the state-owned Bank of North Dakota (BND) launched Roughrider Coin, a dollar-backed token built on Fiserv's (FI) digital asset platform, for near real-time settlement of routine bank-to-bank transactions among North Dakota financial institutions, PYMNTS reported. VersaBank is the issuer, Fireblocks provides security and tokenization, and the coin runs on the Solana blockchain.
Four institutions validated the use case: First International Bank & Trust, Capital Credit Union, Gate City Bank and North Star Community Credit Union. BND President Don Morgan said the four worked with BND to validate it. Participation is voluntary for all state financial institutions. The announcement did not give measured settlement-time gains or transaction volumes.
The numbers
- Cleveland Fed survey respondents
- 148 firms
- Firms actively using stablecoins
- 1
- Firms planning to adopt
- 7
- Middle-market firms using stablecoins (PYMNTS)
- 13%
- Receivers converting to dollars immediately
- 88%
- Roughrider Coin pilot institutions
- 4
Why CEOs should care
For CFOs and treasurers weighing a stablecoin pilot, the research gives cover to wait for a specific use case. The Cleveland Fed found companies were content with existing payments and were not being asked by customers or suppliers to change. Before spending, ask which counterparty actually wants to pay or be paid in stablecoins, and what settlement time or fee you would save versus ACH, wires or real-time payments.
The 88% immediate-conversion figure from PYMNTS Intelligence matters for treasury policy. If most receivers turn tokens straight into dollars, the value is in the transfer, not the holding. Set rules on which coins you accept, who converts them and how fast, and how conversion fees and on-chain costs compare with bank rails.
For bank executives, Roughrider Coin shows where the near-term use case may be: settlement between institutions on a closed network with a known issuer. Community banks should ask their core processors, such as Fiserv, what tokenized settlement would cost to join and what it would replace.
The bigger picture
The pattern is supply arriving before demand. Federal rules, bank tokens and platform tools are all advancing, yet the Cleveland Fed found that among potentially interested firms, availability through existing providers ranked last as a deciding factor; evidence that stablecoins are cheaper or more efficient mattered more, according to the survey and PYMNTS. Adoption may depend less on new rails and more on proof of savings in specific flows such as cross-border payments or interbank settlement.
What’s next
Watch whether BND and Fiserv publish settlement times and volumes for Roughrider Coin, and whether more North Dakota institutions join beyond the four validators. A repeat of the Cleveland Fed survey or further PYMNTS Intelligence data would show whether corporate interest moves after the GENIUS Act's rules take hold.
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