Blog Archives

Widely Used, Increasingly Distrusted: The Dollar’s Stablecoin Paradox

A graph with the title, Figure 1. Projected Adjusted Stablecoin Transaction Volume, 2023-2026

By Lamar Johnson-Harris, Neema Baddam, Tiffany Li, and Amy Zhang Stablecoins are embedding the dollar deeper into global digital finance than at any point in history, yet the same central banks transacting in dollar-denominated rails are accelerating their accumulation of gold and their exit from dollar reserves. The world depends…Read More

2026 Wharton Future of Finance Forum

A panel speaks to an audience at a conference

On January 15, 2026, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR) hosted the third annual Wharton Future of Finance Forum at Penn Washington alongside the Harris Family Alternative Investments Program. Against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol, the event convened academics, policymakers, and industry leaders to discuss the forces reshaping global…Read More

A Proposal to Tackle Algorithmic Collusion in Cryptocurrencies and Beyond

By Giovanna Massarotto Collusion is one of the greatest threats to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which has surpassed $100,000 in value, and its network currently processes around 450,000 transactions per day. Many argue that Bitcoin could challenge the U.S. dollar’s global dominance by enabling a decentralized, peer-to-peer payment system. Bitcoin transactions…Read More

2025 IMF-WIFPR Conference

An academic panel sits in discussion on stage

On June 17, 2025, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation and the International Monetary Fund co-hosted the IMF-WIFPR Conference on the Evolving Global Financial Architecture at the IMF Headquarters in Washington D.C. WIFPR and the IMF brought together a distinguished group of academic researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to…Read More

The Carveout Co-Op: A Truce in the Lender Wars

By Brett Seaton Background Cooperation agreements (Co-Ops) with a carveout emerged over the past two years as an innovation in the landscape of corporate restructuring, shaped by the rise of covenant-lite loans and lender-on-lender violence. The “dropdown” transaction pioneered by J. Crew in 2016 and the “uptier” created by Serta…Read More

GPT in the GP’s Office: Where AI Meets VC

By Mallika Patkar A growing number of venture capital firms are exploring AI solutions to support everything from deal sourcing to portfolio monitoring. These use cases are not limited to large, data-rich institutions; smaller, more agile firms are also experimenting with tools and custom workflows to gain an edge. At…Read More

US Participation in the Basel Committee and the Issue of Transparency

By Matthew Bisanz and Jeffrey P. Taft In March 2025, the US Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released a report on how the US federal banking regulators participated in the development of the Basel III Endgame capital standards (“GAO Report”).[1] While the GAO Report sheds some light on the operations of…Read More

Decentralization: What Blockchain Can Learn from European Schools of Political Economy

By Giovanna Massarotto Blockchain technology is a relatively new phenomenon that many of its proponents believe can help to decentralize the economy and enable economic freedom. However, what decentralization means is often unclear. Importantly, we have a century of economic studies focused on decentralization, offering valuable lessons to inform today’s…Read More

Lessons from Brazil: Central Banks Fostering Innovation

By Mallika Patkar and Joselyn Salazar According to the Atlantic Council’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Tracker, 134 countries and currency unions, representing 98% of global GDP, are currently exploring a CBDC. This marks a significant increase from just 35 countries in May 2020. While many countries are exploring CBDCs,…Read More

America at a Crossroads: Securing Global Digital Asset Leadership

By Sarah Hammer, Executive Director at the Wharton School and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School America stands at the precipice of a digital finance revolution—a historic opportunity to lead global innovation, but one that other nations are rapidly mobilizing to capture. Throughout my career investigating…Read More

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