Opening a new round of Qorus Banking Innovation of the Month awards, we are pleased to announce the winner for March: MoraBanc's pioneering stablecoin-powered digital asset settlement solution for institutional custody.
Qorus and Infosys Finacle launch the 2025 edition of the banking innovation awards
Traditional banking settlement rails are slow, costly, and inefficient for digital assets. While many financial institutions remain wary of blockchain-based solutions, Andorra’s MoraBanc is among the few trailblazers embracing stablecoin as a secure and efficient solution to bridge the gap between traditional and digital currencies.
Stablecoins – digital assets pegged to traditional currencies or commodities – have gained traction in recent years. By mitigating the volatility typically associated with cryptocurrencies, stablecoins offer a stable, secure medium for transactions, which is especially critical for institutions dealing with digital assets. As of 2025, the stablecoin market has grown to over US$140 billion, driven by increasing demand from both traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Recognizing the inefficiencies of traditional settlement systems – such as slow transaction speeds, high costs, and reliance on intermediaries – MoraBanc decided to develop a stablecoin-based settlement solution to streamline digital asset custody. This system enables near-instantaneous settlements using blockchain technology’s atomic settlement feature. Atomic settlement ensures that transactions only occur when all conditions are met, which reduces counterparty risks and guarantees finality. By removing intermediaries, the platform also significantly lowers operational costs and transaction fees.
MoraBanc's innovation integrates seamlessly into its custody infrastructure, providing automated settlement and liquidity optimization. Key features include peer-to-peer transactions, APIs for interoperability with traditional banking systems, and scalability to support future innovations like cross-border payments and tokenized assets. The system is designed to handle increased transaction volumes through Layer 2 scaling solutions, making it adaptable to the growing needs of the financial industry.
Decentralized finance (DeFi): Innovative use-cases and real-world applications
One of the main advantages of this solution is its ability to displace traditional banking and payment systems, such as SWIFT and CHIPS, which are often slow and costly. By leveraging stablecoins, institutions can bypass these legacy systems, enabling faster, cheaper and more transparent transactions on a global scale. MoraBanc's system offers significant benefits, including reduced settlement times, cost savings, enhanced liquidity and risk mitigation, all while ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks.
MoraBanc is one of the first regulated banks to implement such a solution, overcoming challenges posed by regulatory complexity and risk management. The bank worked closely with regulators to establish a compliant framework, ensuring the solution meets capital, liquidity and risk management standards. Through its collaboration with Fireblocks, MoraBanc enhanced security with institutional-grade custody infrastructure, providing a high level of security and efficiency.
The project is fresh out of the gate, having just been launched at the end of February, but is already yielding tangible results as it eliminates the delays and expenses associated with traditional settlement systems, significantly streamlining the bank’s operations. Additionally, the stablecoin-powered system’s scalability positions MoraBanc to spearhead future financial innovations in the digital asset space.
As the digital asset tsunami continues to advance, stablecoin may prove an invaluable surfboard for financial institutions bold enough to embrace its potential. MoraBanc’s innovation demonstrates the viability and advantages of stablecoin-powered settlements within a regulated banking environment, setting a new industry benchmark and earning its place in the spotlight as Qorus Banking Innovation of the Month.
As the winner of the Qorus Innovation of the Month, this innovative project will be automatically nominated for the Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2025. Submit your innovative projects by April 15 to be considered for the April Innovation of the Month.
