Itay Goldstein on the Promise and Perils of Financial Innovations

Five people pose in front of a screen with the IMF-WIFPR Conference information

“It is important to be open minded about new technologies even if they disrupt existing financial infrastructure.”

As digital payments, stablecoins, and tokenization gain traction, they raise important questions about the future of financial markets, institutions, and regulation. At the 2026 IMF-WIFPR Conference on the Evolving Global Financial Architecture, experts from academia, industry, and policy gathered to examine how these innovations could reshape the global financial system and what risks policymakers should consider.

A conference panel in conversation at the IMF-WIFPR Conference
Panelists at the IMF-WIFPR Conference

The conference, jointly organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR), focused on the rise of nonbank financial institutions, private markets, stablecoins, and tokenization, and their implications for global macro-financial stability.

A conference panel titled, “The Promise and Perils of Tokenization, Stablecoins, and Financial Innovations” was moderated by Professor Itay Goldstein, and featured:

  • Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy and Operations at Circle
  • Dan Katz, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF
  • Maureen O’Hara, Robert W. Purcell Professor of Management at Cornell University
  • Manju Puri, J. B. Fuqua Professor at Duke University
A person speaks at a podium during a conference
Professor Itay Goldstein speaks at the IMF-WIFPR Conference

Itay Goldstein offered these insights from the panel:

  1. It is important to be open minded about new technologies even if they disrupt existing financial infrastructure, so as not to prevent better arrangements from materializing.
  2. Stablecoins emerged outside the traditional banking system, but exhibit important interactions with the banking system. Banks may also respond by creating their own alternative, tokenized deposits. It remains to be seen how the interaction will evolve but there are opportunities for co-existence.
  3. Digital payments and big data provide important improvements for payment systems and enable much greater financial inclusion. There are challenges in implementing such improvements across regions, as the recent proposal for the Euro area demonstrates.
  4. Tokenization has the potential to reshape financial markets challenging the connection between capital raising and price discovery. There are important externalities to keep in mind so that the overall function of financial markets is not harmed.

The discussion underscored both the promise and complexity of financial innovation.

More Thought Leadership

Visit the IMF-WIFPR Conference page.

Listen to the Future of Finance podcast, hosted by Itay Goldstein.

Photos courtesy of the International Monetary Fund.