As some are aware, the Boston Federal Reserve regional bank has been conducting research with MIT's Digital Currency Initiative ("MIT DCI"). Nehra Narula has been leading the MIT effort, with a particular focus on the FedNow payments system and a possible US CBDC.
Another group at MIT, the Golub Center for Finance and Policy ("GCFP"), hosts an annual research conference, generally focused on financial risk. This year the annual conference is entitled "Building and Regulating the New Financial Infrastructure," which likely will be of keen interest to the RegTech and Digital Regulatory Reporting communities.
On Thursday, October 20th, 2022, there will be a luncheon panel discussion entitled "Challenges and Opportunities with CBDC" moderated by Eric Rosengren, the recently retired head of the Boston Fed. The three-panel members are scheduled to be:
- Joseph Abate, Barclays
- Jonathan Dhamapalan, eCurrency, and
- Nehra Narula, MIT DCI
Lars Toomre will be attending this event in person in Cambridge, MA. There also apparently is a virtual registration available if others are interested in listening to this panel. The full 2022 MIT GCFP agenda can be viewed here. While reviewing the background of Mr. Dhamapalan, one learned that he testified on June 15, 2021 before a U.S. House Financial Services sub-committee about a possible CBDC issuance. Here is a link to his submitted testimony that may be of interest to the Central Bank Digital Currency ("CBDC") communities.
Please contact Lars if you need any further information or have questions. Do you have any suggestions about others who should be contacted regarding the above?