The Federal Reserve Board published a FEDS Note summarizing its fifth International Roles of the U.S. Dollar Conference, jointly hosted with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on June 22 and 23, 2026. The note concludes that stablecoins, tokenized assets and digital payment technologies are creating new ways to access, transfer and hold dollar-denominated assets across borders, but do not appear to be displacing the foundations of the dollar’s global role. Instead, conference discussions pointed to innovation largely reinforcing dollar use, especially because leading stablecoins are dollar-denominated and increasingly used in international payments, trade and settlement. The note highlights three main themes from the conference. First, stablecoins are becoming part of the infrastructure of international finance, broadening access to dollar-based financial services and linking payment activity more closely to U.S. Treasury markets through reserve holdings. Second, deeper links between digital finance and traditional markets are creating new transmission channels, with presented research showing that stablecoin demand and flows can affect Treasury yields, exchange rates, equity prices, covered interest parity deviations and dollar funding conditions. Third, longer-standing drivers of dollar demand remain decisive, including the depth of U.S. financial markets, demand for dollar liquidity and safe assets, and portfolio and exchange-rate expectations. The note also references discussion of a Committee on the Global Financial System report that underscored the central role of U.S. dollar funding in international banking and the importance of resilient cross-border dollar funding markets. Looking ahead, the note says the main policy challenge is less whether innovation will replace the dollar and more how it will reshape the channels through which the dollar is used internationally. It concludes that policy frameworks will need to adapt to a more digitalized financial system in which liquidity is spread across multiple digital platforms and financial activity moves at greater speed.
Federal Reserve Board2026-07-16
Federal Reserve Board publishes conference review on stablecoins and digital payments reinforcing the dollar’s international role
The Federal Reserve Board published a FEDS Note reviewing its June conference on stablecoins, digital payments and the international role of the U.S. dollar. The note says financial innovation is expanding cross-border access to dollar finance and creating new market transmission channels, but so far appears to be reinforcing rather than weakening the dollar’s global role. It adds that policy frameworks will need to adapt as dollar activity becomes more digital and distributed across platforms.