On October 21, a member of the Board of Governors for the Fed, Christopher Waller, spoke on integrating new technologies from the decentralized finance and cryptoasset sectors as mainstream payments. The speech emphasized the Fed’s shift to partner with the decentralized finance and cryptoasset industries to guide the future of payment technology, highlighting how distributed ledgers and cryptoassets have become increasingly “woven into the fabric” of payment and financial systems.

During the conference, the Fed announced it had directed staff to explore a new “payment account” concept, aimed at providing basic payment services to institutions focused on payments. Currently, such institutions rely on third-party banks with master accounts. Waller proposed a “skinny” master account, which would theoretically grant access to Fed payment rails while mitigating risks, including no interest on balances, possible balance caps, rejection of payments when balances reach zero, and exclusion from daylight overdraft privileges and discount window borrowing. The Fed indicated these accounts would have a streamlined review process to keep pace with rapid payment innovations.