In brief
- Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said stablecoins have the potential to improve retail and cross-border payments.
- He acknowledged some fear and skepticism toward innovation in payments.
- The Fed is researching tokenization, he said.
Using cryptocurrencies to facilitate ordinary payments should be no more intimidating than swiping a debit card, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday.
“There is nothing to be afraid of when thinking about using smart contracts, tokenization, or distributed ledgers in everyday transactions,” he said in a speech at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Teton Village, Wyoming. “This is simply new technology.”
Waller described stablecoins as a continuation of advancements in payments, pointing to the early days of physical cards that lacked magnetic strips or chips. Stablecoins have evolved from their original purpose, he acknowledged, but “have the potential to improve retail and cross-border payments,” while also making it easier to access the U.S. dollar globally.
“As the stablecoin market matured, firms found that the properties of stablecoins using distributed ledger technology—including 24/7 availability, fast transferability, and their freely circulating nature—could be attractive for other use cases as well,” he said.
Waller, who was appointed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, told The Wall Street Journal last month that he would accept a role as Fed Chair if asked. He also dissented from the central bank’s decision to hold rates steady in July for a fifth straight meeting, calling for a quarter-percentage-point rate cut alongside governor Michelle Bowman.
On Tuesday, Bowman gave her own address at the Wyoming confab, saying “you don’t need a tech background to appreciate the opportunity that blockchain provides to the financial system.”
Waller recognized on Wednesday that some have “been fearful or skeptical of innovation” in the payments space, but he underscored that “there is nothing scary” about crypto transactions just because they take place within the realm of decentralized finance.
The GENIUS Act’s passage created a federal framework for stablecoin issuers, and Waller said that this could help dollar-pegged tokens “reach their full potential” in the U.S.
Although his comments were geared toward private-sector innovation, Waller’s remarks follow the debut of Wyoming’s stablecoin earlier this week. Revenue generated from the token’s reserve is expected to go toward the state’s school foundation fund.
The Fed has played a role in supporting payments technology by providing infrastructure for clearing and settlement to financial institutions. That has been the case since the central bank’s early days, Waller noted.
As stablecoins become ingrained in the financial world, Waller said the Fed is conducting research on tokenization, smart contracts, and artificial intelligence in payments. Although conservatives have warned against the dangers of a dollar-pegged token issued by the Fed, Waller did not explicitly reference Central Bank Digital Currencies.
“It is important to understand trends in payments technology so that we can continue to support private sector firms that leverage our infrastructures, as well as understand whether emerging technologies could provide opportunities to improve our existing platforms and services,” he said.
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