NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, October 10, 2016

The Federal Reserve has established a working group that is exploring financial innovation across the broad range of its responsibilities and engaging with industry stakeholders to discuss the ways in which the payment system could be improved considering the new wave of innovation including distributed ledger technology.

This was revealed by Governor Lael Brainard at the Institute of International Finance Annual Meeting Panel on Blockchain, Washington, D.C. on October 7, 2016.

“We are paying close attention to distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, recognizing this may represent the most significant development in many years in payments, clearing, and settlement”, Brainard said.

She further mentioned the various blockchain use cases that have been discussed with industry stakeholders, which includes cross-border payments and trade finance, securities markets, commodities and derivatives and more. Brainard said that in markets that are heavily paper-based and lack any central means for coordination, DLT could potentially be leveraged to provide coordination that facilitates exchange, clearing, and settlement of obligations. However, much of the industry is at a “proof of concept” stage of development, she said, adding: