Federal Reserve to Hold Bitcoin and Crypto Payments Conference Tomorrow

Highlights:

• Fed will hold a payments conference to explore crypto, AI, and tokenized finance innovations.
• Panels will examine blockchain banking, stablecoin strategies, and AI’s role in payments.
• The event will highlight new ways to innovate and improve the U.S. payment system.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to hold a payments innovation conference tomorrow, Tuesday, October 21, in Washington, D.C. The gathering will bring together regulators, financial executives, and leaders from the cryptocurrency industry. The conference will focus on how technologies like digital assets, artificial intelligence, and tokenization are reshaping the global payments landscape.

Fed Governor Christopher J. Waller will deliver both the opening and closing remarks. The event will also be livestreamed on the Federal Reserve’s official website and YouTube channel.

FED MEETS CRYPTO 🔔

The Federal Reserve will host a Payments Innovation Conference on Oct 21, featuring panelists from Chainlink, Paxos, Circle, and Coinbase.

Traditional finance is finally sitting at the same table as CRYPTO. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2QWlz6UiX2

— Wise Advice (@wiseadvicesumit) October 20, 2025

Fed Payments Innovation Conference Sessions

The first panel, “Connecting Traditional Finance to Digital Assets,” will be led by Rebecca Rettig from Jito Labs. The panel will show how banks can safely work with blockchain and digital assets.

The second session, “Exploring Stablecoin Applications and Business Strategies,” will be led by Kyle Samani from Multicoin Capital. Speakers will explain how stablecoins help with payments, international transfers, and financial inclusion. They will also discuss rules, liquidity, and compliance challenges.

After lunch, Matt Marcus from Modern Treasury will lead the “AI in Payments” session. The panel will highlight AI’s role in speeding up payments, reducing fraud, and improving efficiency. It will also cover how AI and blockchain together can enhance financial forecasting and manage risks.

The final panel, “Tokenized Products,” will be led by Colleen Sullivan from Brevan Howard Digital. It will focus on trading traditional assets like bonds and funds digitally. Experts will discuss how blockchain can make investing simpler, more liquid, and compliant with regulations.

The Fed said the event will explore new ways to innovate and improve the payment system. For the first time, it is directly engaging with industry leaders on Bitcoin, stablecoins, and tokenized assets. These discussions could influence how crypto payments integrate into the U.S. financial system.

Crypto Rules Ease Under Trump’s Administration

Since taking office, the Trump administration has eased rules that made banks avoid working with crypto companies. The U.S. Federal Reserve ended its program supervising digital-asset firms and removed warnings that limited their banking access. After the GENIUS Act passed in July, experts say the environment for blockchain innovation is now much better. These changes prepare the way for the conference, giving digital payments clearer rules.

Senate Democrats to Host Crypto Roundtable

To strengthen ties between policymakers and the crypto industry, Senate Democrats will host a private roundtable on October 22. The discussion will focus on stalled digital asset legislation and the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) regulation. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) will lead the session, joined by top leaders from Coinbase, Ripple, Chainlink, and Uniswap. Top crypto leaders from Coinbase, Chainlink, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, Uniswap, Ripple, Circle, Jito, a16z, and Solana will attend.

🚨SCOOP: These crypto C-suites are expected to attend a roundtable with pro-crypto Senate Democrats on Wednesday to discuss market structure legislation and the path forward:

📌Coinbase CEO @brian_armstrong
📌Chainlink CEO @SergeyNazarov
📌Galaxy CEO @novogratz
📌Kraken CEO…

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 20, 2025