Governor Lisa D. Cook, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, participated on May 8, 2026 in Dakar in the International Conference on Crypto-assets and Digital Innovations organized by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). The meeting focused on the theme: “Crypto-assets and digital innovations: opportunities and challenges for monetary and financial stability.”
In her speech, Lisa D. Cook focused on tokenization and its implications for the financial system. She emphasized that distributed ledger technologies, including blockchain, as well as smart contracts, can improve market efficiency, automate certain operations, enhance transaction transparency, and offer more flexibility in financial exchange settlement.
She also highlighted several potential benefits, including reducing operational costs, improving collateral and liquidity management, and providing broader market access through fractional ownership of assets. According to her, these developments could lower some entry barriers and promote financial innovation, even in environments where access to traditional instruments remains limited.
The Fed official, however, emphasized the risks associated with this transformation. She mentioned liquidity vulnerabilities, contagion risks between digital finance and traditional finance, operational fragilities, and cybersecurity threats, especially in highly automated systems. She also pointed out that continuous market operation could exacerbate tensions during periods of stress.
In this context, Lisa D. Cook advocated for a regulated development of financial innovation, reconciling technological experimentation with the preservation of financial stability. The BCEAO, on its part, recalled that it had initiated work on a regulatory framework for crypto-assets in the UEMOA, focusing on supervision, cybersecurity, consumer protection, and international cooperation.
