Max Harris on Stablecoins After the GENIUS Act

A panel at the Wharton Future of Finance Forum addresses the audience between two blue Wharton pop up banners

“We are only at the beginning of the stablecoin story.” – Max Harris

As digital assets become integrated into mainstream finance, stablecoins have moved from the periphery to the center of policy conversations. At the 2026 Wharton Future of Finance Forum, a panel titled “Stablecoins After the GENIUS Act” brought together senior voices from government and industry to assess where stablecoins stand today, and where they may be headed after the passing of new regulation.

Moderated by Max Harris, Senior Fellow at the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR) and Finance at Wharton’s Director of Research, the panel featured:

  • Michael Barr, Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
  • Timothy Massad, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
  • Corey Then, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Policy, Circle
Panelists in discussion at a conference
Michael Barr and Max Harris in conversation at the Future of Finance Forum

Max Harris offered the following key takeaways from the panel:

  1. The future is borderless: Because blockchains are inherently borderless, stablecoins, and the future of money more broadly, need to be viewed from a global perspective, especially as technology and finance become fields of play in geopolitical competition.
  2. Plurality: The future of money will not be one size fits all. Different instruments will play different roles and have different use cases.
  3. Stablecoins are still evolving: We are only at the beginning of the stablecoin story. The GENIUS Act—bringing stablecoins into the regulatory perimeter—was a landmark step, but implementing the law and making sure regulations evolve as the market changes will be critical in shaping the future of stablecoins and minimizing the risks posed to financial stability and integrity.

Regulators, practitioners, and policymakers now face the challenge of keeping up with innovation, while simultaneously shaping it in ways that are safe, transparent, and resilient.

More Thought Leadership

Listen to a conversation on Stablecoins between Professor Itay Goldstein and Heath Tarbert, President of Circle.

Explore the study, “Stablecoin Runs and the Centralization of Arbitrage” by Professor Yao Zeng.

Learn more about Wharton Future of Finance

Photography by Eddy Marenco