08:09 AM EDT, 08/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- VersaBank ( VBNK ) , a North American player in business-to-business digital banking and technology solutions for cybersecurity, on Tuesday said its wholly owned unit, VersaBank USA, launched an internal pilot program in the United States for its USDVBs, the US-dollar version of its proprietary Digital Deposit Receipts (DDRs).

DDRs, bank-issued tokenized deposits that are highly encrypted 1:1 digital representations of actual cash deposits, provide "superior security, stability, and regulatory compliance compared to stablecoins," the company said. VersaBank USA's USDVB Pilot program will follow a phased testing program involving thousands of transactions of "de minimis" value with controlled internal testing and expanding to include limited external deployment with designated deposit partners and their clients.

"We believe VersaBank USA's USDVBs are the first operational, tokenized deposit issued by a nationally licensed bank in the United States," said VersaBank Founder David Taylor. "With every confidence in a successful pilot program, we are steadily advancing plans toward commercialization of our DDRs, both internally and through potential third-party partners."

USDVBs will be issued at a rate of 1 USDVB for each US$1.00 on deposit with VersaBank USA. The company said that the issuance and redemption and basic management of USDVBs will occur through its proprietary VersaVault digital vault platform on the Algorand, Ethereum and Stellar blockchains.

Shares of the company were last seen down 2.1% to $14.70 on Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.