Ahead of the Jackson Hole Global Central Bank Conference, the crypto circle first held a blockchain seminar in Jackson Hole, attended by senior officials from the Fed, SEC, and Trump's son. Christopher Waller, a Fed governor appointed by President Trump and one of the hot candidates for the next Fed Chair, spoke at the conference on Wednesday, calling for embracing the "technology-driven revolution" happening in artificial intelligence and the stablecoin sector, believing it can drive US economic development.
Waller said in his speech that digital asset innovation is "not scary," and the payment system is undergoing a "technology-driven revolution." Current advancements in computing power, data processing, and distributed networks are giving rise to many innovative payment services.
Supports Fed Collaboration with Industry in Payments
Waller was appointed by Trump in 2020. He has previously stated that he supports the application of certain technologies in decentralized finance (DeFi), believing they can complement traditional payment systems. For example, he mentioned that distributed ledger technology can record asset transfer processes more efficiently and quickly.
In his speech on Wednesday, Waller emphasized that the impact of DeFi in the payments sphere, including its risk mitigation effects, has the potential to yield positive outcomes provided the private sector collaborates with the Fed. He said both public and private sectors can embrace innovation in their respective roles.
He stated that over the past few years, some of the most groundbreaking innovations have been "stigmatized" due to their association with digital assets.
Media analysis suggests crypto companies are weighing a key strategic question: how much control to exert within the mechanism of digital currency circulation, whether to build entirely new systems, rely on shared systems, or do both.
In response, Waller said the evolution of the payment system has always been driven by technological progress, with most changes led by private sector innovation, while key foundations are supported by the Fed—either as a system operator providing core infrastructure or by guiding the entire industry to develop specific solutions like payment standards.
Fed Researching Token and AI Technologies in Payments
The Fed launched its long-awaited FedNow payment network in 2023, allowing eligible banks with accounts at the Fed to conduct instant fund transfers. Prior to this, the US had somewhat lagged behind other countries in the adoption of real-time payments.
Waller stated that the Fed is researching a new wave of payment technology innovations, including tokenization, smart contracts, and the application of artificial intelligence in payments.
Waller said that as a payment system operator, understanding these trends is crucial, as it not only helps the Fed better support private enterprises using relevant infrastructure but also allows for assessing whether emerging technologies have the potential to improve the Fed's existing platforms and services.
The Wyoming Blockchain Summit was held three days before the Jackson Hole Global Central Bank Conference. Analysis said this summit marked the climax of the "summer of stablecoins" previously described by Goldman Sachs.
Waller is also the second senior Fed official this week to publicly praise the cryptocurrency industry. The day before Waller's speech, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman also said at the summit that banks and regulators should give the industry better treatment and praised the development of tokenization.
A previous article stated that Bowman said in her speech on Tuesday that the banking industry and regulators must accept the benefits brought by new technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, otherwise risk seeing their role in the economy diminish. She said that ideally, regulators should allow these new uses to "expand in ways that are beneficial to the banking system."
