Federal Reserve member Christopher Waller shared his views on the evolving landscape of decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins, outlining both their potential benefits and associated risks.
In a series of statements, Waller acknowledged the complementary nature of technological innovations in DeFi to traditional finance and said that appropriate regulations are needed to safely leverage these innovations.
Waller noted that some of the services emerging through DeFi cannot be replicated by traditional finance, but the technological advances coming from DeFi are largely complementary. These innovations have the potential to enhance centralized financial markets and increase the value provided by financial intermediaries, according to Waller.
“DeFi may bring efficiency improvements, but the value of traditional financial intermediaries and centralized financial markets remains significant,” Waller said. While some experts predict that DeFi will replace traditional finance, others see it as an extension that expands certain aspects of the current financial system.
Waller also spoke about stablecoins, describing them as a significant innovation in the DeFi space. He explained that stablecoins were created to provide a stable and easily tradable “safe” asset in the cryptocurrency universe. “Almost all stablecoins are pegged one-to-one to the US dollar,” he said.
He also outlined the potential of stablecoins as payment solutions that could reduce global transaction costs by minimizing the need for traditional payment intermediaries. “Since stablecoins are digital currencies, they could reduce the need for payment intermediaries and thus reduce global payment costs,” Waller said, but he cautioned that the security of these assets is not yet guaranteed.
Waller noted that stablecoins could be useful as payment instruments and safe assets on a variety of new trading platforms if appropriate firewalls are put in place. However, he also noted that risks such as operational vulnerabilities and the potential use of stablecoins in illicit financing need to be addressed.
*This is not investment advice.