The Future of Money: The Genius Act, Stablecoins, and the Global Expansion of Blockchain-Based Finance
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Event Information
The Genius Act has been called the most significant piece of U.S. financial legislation since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
The Act provides a legal and regulatory framework for fiat-backed stablecoin issuance and is expected to spur vastly increased use of these blockchain-based payment tokens in national and international payments. The Genius Act is part of a larger agenda promoted by the Trump administration and aimed at promoting U.S. leadership in digital finance by integrating blockchain-based crypto assets into the "traditional" financial services system.
The Richman Center hosted two panels of crypto and payments industry leaders, venture capitalists, crypto law specialists, banking analysts, consumer and market advocates, academics and experts from the Federal Reserve and the Bank for International Settlement to discuss what the Genius Act does and doesn't do and why stablecoins matter for banks, the payments industry, crypto finance companies, Treasury markets and U.S. and global financial stability.
The event was moderated by Todd H. Baker, Senior Fellow at the Richman Center for Business, Law & Public Policy, and Professor Jeff Gordon, Richard Paul Richman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School.
Participants included:
- Josh Boehm, Partner, Paul Hastings
- Ben Isaacson, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, The Clearing House
- Andrew Dresner, Managing Director, Corporate Strategy, Fifth Third Bank
- Will Peck, Head of Digital Assets, Wisdom Tree
- Alejandra Martinez, Partner, Foundation Capital
- Ebrahim Poonawala, Head of North American Banks Research, BofA Securities
- Amanda Fischer, Policy Director & COO, Better Markets
- Takeshi Shirakami, Deputy Head of Secretariat, BIS
- Michael J. Lee, Financial Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Kathryn Judge, Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law, Columbia Law School