Regulators, Academia, And Industry Join Forces To Discuss the Future Of Digital Assets at Cornell Convenes

ITHACA, N.Y., Jan. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fintech at Cornell, an initiative of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, hosted its second annual Cornell Convenes roundtable in April, bringing industry, academia, and regulators to the table to discuss both stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The product of this discussion is the Cornell Convenes: Toward a New Bretton Woods Report ("Report"), a cross-industry whitepaper reflecting nuanced opinions from the different participants' perspectives.

In the past year, the conversation around digital assets, CBDCs, and the future of payments has heated up worldwide. Some countries in this global laboratory of different economic approaches provide clear guidance to encourage innovation in the financial sector. In contrast, others, including the USA, have taken a much slower approach — ruling by enforcement — while legislation to regulate the industry is being debated in Congress.

Within this backdrop, Cornell Convenes: Toward a New Bretton Woods, the second forum of its kind, hosted a conversation with over 40 professionals in the digital asset arena to promote cohesion between regulators, industry experts, and academics. Chatham House Rule was observed to encourage open dialogue.

The Report extracts and highlights opinions from these professionals on CBDCs, stablecoins, fraud, privacy and security, the future of money, data breaches, and banking disruption, among many other topics. This provides an informative summary of how each of these parties can work together to take a positive step forward. Such conversations are in limited supply and should be considered when Congress debates these next steps.

Government surveillance was hotly debated: "With governmental control, there is the risk of abuse. The government could stop your access to your money. So that's something we need to address. A potential alternative is a private stablecoin over a retail CBDC," argued one of the participants. Strong opinions and educated suggestions emerged across the range of topics.

"We are anticipating that tokenization of finance will bring billions if not trillions of new value, and yet, have no real rules of the road issued in the USA to help attract innovation," said Susan Joseph, Fintech at Cornell's Executive Director and event organizer. "No one in the USA wants to see innovation walk out the door," she continued, "so I encourage the USA to put rules in place sooner rather than later so that the USA remains competitive."

Last year, Joseph said in connection with FinTech at Cornell's Digital Asset Report, "We're facing wholesale, potentially seismic changes in the structure of the way the financial world works, and this requires broad-based participation, beyond legislative input." The same observation is accurate this year, and then some.

Above all else, the group concluded that continued discussion is essential so that industry can help regulators navigate the changing landscape and so that scholars can deepen their understanding of how to proceed. "An open, thoughtful conversation like this, where people from varying backgrounds talk to rather than at each other, is invaluable and necessary," concludes Joseph.

Indeed, to continue emphasizing dialogue and education, the FinTech at Cornell Initiative is kicking off the new year with a webinar called "Real World Assets on the Blockchain" on January 9, and you can register here. Additionally, Cornell will continue to offer Cornell Convenes events; the next one will be held in spring 2024.

Read the Cornell Convenes: Toward a New Bretton Woods Report here.
Read more at the Fintech at Cornell website.
Follow Fintech_at_Cornell on LinkedIn
Watch the November 20 Fintech at Cornell expert podcast on characterizing digital assets and their participants here.

Media Contact:  Sarah Magnus-Sharpe   [email protected] 

SOURCE Fintech at Cornell, an Initiative of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business