Digital assets come to Tennessee banking: Q&A on the TBA-Stablecore partnership

Nick Elledge
Co-founder & COO,
Stablecore

This spring, the Tennessee Bankers Association named Stablecore its exclusive Endorsed Partner for stablecoin and digital asset infrastructure, giving TBA’s member banks a vetted path into a fast-moving corner of financial services. The Tennessee Bankers Association sat down with Nick Elledge, co-founder and COO at Stablecore, to talk about what the endorsement means, why digital assets belong on every bank’s radar, and how Stablecore helps banks move forward without getting ahead of their compliance obligations.

What does TBA’s endorsement of Stablecore mean for member banks, and what was the impetus for this partnership?
The endorsement means TBA is putting its name behind our company as the go-to resource for its roughly 175 member institutions as they evaluate stablecoins and digital assets. In practice, that translates into Stablecore’s best available pricing for TBA members, white-glove onboarding support, and a trusted partner for a complicated and evolving segment of the industry. Stablecore has several key team leaders in Tennessee and is supporting banks in the state, adding an extra degree of confidence to the partnership.
Operational and regulatory conditions drove the partnership's timing. Tennessee banks expressed a readiness to move from education to a tangible solution they could deploy for stablecoins and tokenized deposits. Then, the passage of the GENIUS Act gave banks a clearer legal framework for participation. Stablecore, in turn, was built specifically to bring community and regional banks into the digital asset economy without requiring them to rip out the infrastructure they already run, making it an ideal partner for TBA and its members.

Why should Tennessee banks be paying attention to stablecoins and digital assets?
Stablecoins have moved well past novelty status, as over 100 million consumers now have them in their pockets via Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp. With Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, and Coinbase launching Open USD stablecoin on June 30, 2026, every bank should be paying attention. Industry estimates suggest stablecoins could account for roughly 3% of U.S. dollar payment volume this year, climbing toward 10% by 2031, with the broader market capitalization on pace to top $1 trillion in a 2027 timeframe. Additionally, multiple tokenized deposit networks have sprung up, which could change the face of interbank settlement.

What are some of the most immediate or relevant use cases today?
The nearest-term use cases are similar to wires and ACH, but really boil down to this: keeping your bank as the primary relationship with your customers. If the banks are not providing a way to utilize stablecoins as they grow, non-banks will do so in their place. This is ultimately about retention; business customers and younger retail customers are already transacting in digital assets somewhere. The question is whether they do it through their bank or through an outside platform – one without the trust, service, and oversight that bank relationships carry. Banks that engage with digital assets now have an opportunity to gain deposits, rather than reacting to potential customer-flight that happens down the road.

As banks increasingly evaluate and adopt digital asset offerings, how does Stablecore support them in doing so while remaining compliant and aligned with their existing operations?
Today, community and regional banks don’t have the infrastructure to use stablecoins or tokenized deposits. Stablecore is designed to provide that, serving as a modern switchboard for any stablecoin or tokenized deposit into your bank.
Compliance and integration are the two areas Stablecore is built around.
On the infrastructure side, Stablecore connects to a bank’s existing core banking systems rather than requiring a replacement. Think of it as a “side core” that layers digital asset custody, conversion, and payments on top of what the bank already runs. That means a bank can offer digital asset accounts, dollar-to-digital-asset conversion, and stablecoin payments without disrupting its existing operations or customer experience.
On the compliance side, Stablecore maintains SOC 2 compliance and works within a bank’s existing regulatory relationships and examination processes, not around them. Stablecore’s integration into Nasdaq Verafin and other platforms, and its partnerships with Chainalysis and TRM Labs for blockchain intelligence and transaction monitoring, give banks the same AML and risk visibility they expect from any other line of business.
Through Stablecore and TBA’s partnership, member banks get direct access to the team for education, including webinars and executive briefings, so decision-makers can get comfortable with both the technology and the regulatory landscape before making any commitments. The goal is for a bank’s digital asset offering to feel like a natural extension of its existing operations.