Fed member Chris Waller said there is “nothing to fear” from cryptocurrency technologies. In his speech today in Jackson Hole, Waller referred to smart contracts, tokenization, and distributed ledger technologies, saying, “There's nothing to fear when thinking about these things. Using innovative technologies to build new payment services is nothing new.” Speaking at the SALT conference, Waller noted that some technologies have been unfairly demonized in recent years because of their association with digital assets. “They're just technologies, why are they so maligned? If they offer more useful and interesting avenues, we should look at them and embrace them,” he said. Waller, who was appointed to the Fed by Donald Trump in 2020 and is seen as a strong candidate for the future Fed presidency, has long been known for his supportive stance towards stablecoins and the crypto industry. Stating that the FED is also exploring possible uses of tokenization, smart contracts, and distributed ledgers, Waller said, “As a central bank, we may never follow this path, but there is no reason why we shouldn't explore it to see what happens.” *This is not investment advice.