Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Conference Overview
The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are jointly organizing the Fifth Conference on the International Roles of the U.S. Dollar on June 22 and 23, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. dollar plays a preeminent role in the global economy through its use in international investment, funding, payments, and trade transactions, as well as through its status as a reserve currency. This conference aims to garner insights from researchers, policymakers, and market experts on the evolving roles of the U.S. dollar in the global economy, the effects of these roles for the Federal Reserve's mandates, and the prospects for these roles going forward.

The conference will feature a keynote address, a panel discussion on the themes of the conference, and research paper presentations with discussants.

This year's conference will center on understanding the implications of financial innovations, especially digital assets including stablecoins, for the international roles of the U.S. dollar. The accelerated pace of financial innovations, including the rapid evolution of digital payment systems and tokenized assets, presents both potential opportunities and challenges for the role of the dollar in global finance. Building on insights from previous conferences, we seek to understand how financial innovation may reshape the dollar's roles as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value in the international monetary system.

The organizers welcome theoretical and empirical paper submissions that address the drivers, consequences, and policy implications of the international roles of the dollar, with particular emphasis on the following areas:

• digital assets and the dollar's evolving investment role, including how digital assets reshape investment flows and create new asset classes; how tokenization impacts dollar funding markets and integrates decentralized finance with traditional intermediation channels;
• financial innovation and the dollar's payment functions, including how stablecoins transform cross-border transactions and settlement efficiency; how programmable money influences the dollar's position in global payment systems;
• market structures and institutional evolution in digital dollar ecosystems, including competitive dynamics among dollar-backed digital assets and how regulatory frameworks shape market competition and the dollar's network effects;
• digital fragmentation, geopolitics, and the dollar's reserve status, including how emerging digital currencies influence the dollar's international position and how technological competition affects dollar dominance;
• the dollar as a safe haven in tokenized markets, including how digitalization transforms dollar-denominated assets during market stress and how liquidity differs between traditional and tokenized assets for portfolio management;
• dollar liquidity provision in digital financial markets, including how central bank facilities interact with digital dollar markets during stress periods.

The deadline for paper submissions is February 15, 2026. Please submit papers through this CVENT page. If you have any questions, contact [email protected]. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by March 15, 2026. Travel funding may be available for academic presenters and discussants. This is an in-person event, and attendance is by invitation only.

Organizing Committee
Ricardo Correa, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Linda S. Goldberg, Research and Statistics Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Ritt Keerati, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Juan M. Londono, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Fabiola Ravazzolo, Markets Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Scientific Committee
John Ammer, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Stefania D'Amico, Markets Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Jeff Dawson, Research and Statistics Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Laurie de Marco, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Gabriele La Spada, Research and Statistics Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Ari Morse, Markets Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Sharon Ross, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board
Immo Schott, Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board