In an announcement on Wednesday, VersaBank said it plans to launch a digital currency called VCAD, which will reportedly be backed by Canadian dollars deposited with the bank.
The Canadian bank claimed that VCAD would effectively be "the first digital currency to represent a fiat currency" issued and backed by a North American bank. VersaBank said it had partnered with Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between investment fund manager 3iQ and blockchain firm Mavennet, to launch the "stablecoin."