Federal Reserve to Host ‘Payments Innovation’ Conference on Stablecoins and Tokenization

In a massive development, the Federal Reserve has announced its Payments Innovation Conference, which will take place next month. The conference will feature discussions on stablecoins, tokenization, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Federal Reserve To Host Payments Innovation Conference Next Month

In a press release, the Fed Board announced that it will host a conference on payments innovation on October 21. The release noted that the event will bring together a range of interested parties to discuss how to further innovate and improve the payments system.

Notably, this move comes after the Federal Reserve discussed stablecoins as one that could boost U.S. payment efficiency at the last FOMC meeting. Commenting on the upcoming conference, Fed Governor Chris Waller said that innovation has been a constant in payments to meet the changing needs of consumers and businesses.

Walller further remarked that he looks forward to examining the opportunities and challenges of new technologies, bringing together ideas on how to improve the safety and efficiency of payments as they hear from those helping shape the future of payments.

The Federal Reserve Payments Innovation conference will feature panel discussions on several aspects, including the “convergence of traditional and decentralized finance, emerging stablecoin use cases and business models, the intersection of artificial intelligence and payments, and the tokenization of financial products and services.”

Interestingly, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman also recently remarked that change is coming. This came as she called for the reception of new technology trends, including digital assets. She also revealed that bank regulators were already working on creating a framework for digital assets and the adoption of blockchain within the banking system.

Notably, other regulators, such as the SEC and CFTC, continue to demonstrate their openness to crypto as they seek to provide clarity for the industry. Both agencies plan to host a roundtable on September 29 to harmonize their regulatory frameworks for the crypto industry.

Chris Waller’s Comments On Stablecoins

Chris Waller has made comments on stablecoins before the announcement of the Federal Reserve Payments Innovation conference. During an appearance at the Economic Club of Miami last month, he remarked that the “GENIUS Act is a great start.”

The Fed Governor admitted that the stablecoin legislation will not be perfect right out of the gate, but that they will learn from it. He added that there will be some issues, but that they will fix them as they go.

Chris Waller stated that the Federal Reserve won’t just shut everything down because they are afraid that somebody might lose money in their assets. He claimed that they have to take risks, as that is how an economy grows and gets better. He joked that if they don’t take risks, they become like Europe.

Meanwhile, last year, the Fed Governor noted that about 99% of the stablecoin market cap is linked to the dollar. Based on this, he opined that it is likely that any expansion of trading in the DeFi world will simply strengthen the dollar’s dominance.