NY Fed hosts stablecoin conference today

The Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston opened their Third Conference on Stablecoins and Tokenization on Friday, May 22, 2026, as a virtual event open to the public and media. The one-day conference runs from 8:30 a.m. Eastern to late afternoon and brings together researchers, regulators, policymakers and industry participants to discuss stablecoins and the tokenization of “cash-like products,” the two banks said. The stated focus is the potential effect of those products on the broader financial system and on financial stability. ### Why are the New York Fed and Boston Fed holding this event now? May 22 is the third installment of a conference series that began with an April 5, 2024 event on the financial-stability implications of stablecoins and continued with a second conference on May 9, 2025. The 2026 program says it “builds on last year’s event,” extending the discussion from stablecoins themselves to tokenization of a wider set of money-like instruments. (newyorkfed.org) The Boston Fed has been publishing research that frames stablecoins, tokenized money market funds and related instruments as “new money-like products.” In a 2026 supervisory research paper, Boston Fed and Federal Reserve Board authors wrote that such products could be transformative for finance but also share vulnerabilities seen in money market mutual funds. (newyorkfed.org) ### What do officials mean by “cash-like products”? The New York Fed’s event page says the conference will examine “the tokenization of cash-like products,” without limiting that category to one instrument. The Boston Fed’s related research and this year’s agenda make clear the discussion spans stablecoins, tokenized deposits and tokenized money market fund structures, all of which are being analyzed as money-like claims that could be used in digital markets. (bostonfed.org) A New York Fed staff report scheduled for discussion on Friday compares stablecoins with tokenized deposits in blockchain-based trade. That paper says stablecoins are backed by safe assets, while banks issue deposits — including tokenized deposits — to fund portfolios of safe and risky assets, creating different tradeoffs for credit, regulation and risk-taking. (newyorkfed.org) ### Which names on the agenda matter most? Tobias Adrian of the International Monetary Fund is listed to deliver the morning keynote, and Gary Gorton of Yale School of Management is scheduled for the afternoon keynote. The speaker list also includes researchers from the Bank for International Settlements, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve Board, MIT, the University of Florida and other institutions. (newyorkfed.org) The papers on Friday’s agenda show where the official research focus sits. Sessions are scheduled on stablecoin flows and spillovers to foreign-exchange markets, stablecoins as a safe-haven asset in decentralized-finance markets, demand for safety in the crypto ecosystem, tokenized deposits versus stablecoins, the fragility of “perfectly safe digital money,” and whether stablecoins and bank deposits are substitutes. (bostonfed.org) ### Why are money market funds showing up in a stablecoin conference? Boston Fed researchers have explicitly linked newer digital products to the money market fund literature. Their 2026 framework paper says the vulnerabilities of stablecoins and tokenized money market funds can be assessed by comparing their features with the characteristics that made money market mutual funds vulnerable in past stress episodes. (bostonfed.org) A 2025 Boston Fed write-up of the prior conference said researchers were already examining stablecoins, tokenized money market funds and money market fund exchange-traded funds together. That article said New York Fed research director Kartik Athreya told participants the rise of blockchain markets and tokenization was important to understanding both financial-stability risks and payment services, which are central Federal Reserve responsibilities. (bostonfed.org) ### What should readers watch after Friday’s sessions end? The Boston Fed’s event page says all remarks are on the record, and both reserve banks have posted the public agenda and registration details. The named organizers are Kenechukwu Anadu of the Boston Fed and Marco Cipriani of the New York Fed. Friday’s final scheduled session runs from 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (bostonfed.org) Eastern on whether stablecoins and bank deposits are substitutes, with Rashad Ahmed of the Andersen Institute and Iñaki Aldasoro of the Bank for International Settlements listed as presenters. (bostonfed.org) (newyorkfed.org)