Economics Advisory

Via Appia: The right road for tokenised finance?

15 March 2026

The real innovation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) lies not in technology but in market organisation.

The ECB’s roadmap for the E.U.’s tokenised finance ecosystem, published on 11 March, affirms the seriousness with which it is pursuing tokenisation and DLT. This is welcome. At the same time, the ECB risks merely rebuilding the current financial system on DLT platforms instead of leveraging the new institutional architecture that DLT platforms enable. [...]

Is interoperability really the constraint for digital money?

8 March 2026

[...] I attended a most insightful discussion around digital monies. [...] There were repeated comments on the need to establish interoperability as almost a precondition for making tokenised monies work. I would argue that the real issue is not interoperability but clearing and acceptance arrangements among banks. [...]

Three functions of money: A rethink

24 February 2026

What is actually money? On Monday in London I attended a very insightful forum organised by Citi about money market funds. It made me rethink what constitutes money and what instruments can serve as money. Central banks like to state that money must perform three functions: medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value. This does not seem aligned with how modern monies work. We may need to rethink what money is. [...]

Which is the fairest of all tokenised monies

OMFIF Digital Monetary Institute, 13 March 2026

If widely adopted, tokenised money market funds may become one of the most consequential innovations in wholesale liquidity management.

As markets explore tokenised deposits and stablecoins, tokenised money market fund shares deserve equal attention, given their high credit quality, interest-bearing nature and institutional familiarity. Not only does tokenisation bring considerable benefits to money market fund shares, it changes how institutional liquidity is managed, shifting it from redemption towards circulation. It transforms money market funds from a passive savings vehicle to a multi-purpose financial instrument. [...]

The UK needs to press ahead with digital gilts plans

Financial Times, 29 January 2026

The UK government has been preparing to launch the most consequential state initiatives on the tokenisation of financial assets. The UK now needs to press ahead with a decision on the tender and subsequent development. The instrument, dubbed the Digit, could be the catalyst that brings tokenised money and assets more into the financial mainstream. While some countries like China have issued digital currencies, this would be the first issuance directly on a blockchain of tokenised treasury security by a G7 country. [...]

When monetary innovation makes money obsolete

OMFIF Commentary, 23 January 2026

Tokenisation promises to make financial transactions effectively instantaneous and frictionless across a broad range of assets. Interest-bearing securities could be converted into money on demand and converted back just as quickly. In such an environment, holding money in advance of payments may no longer be necessary. Money balances would shrink towards zero and, at the limit, disappear altogether. Reducing transaction frictions would therefore not just improve efficiency, it would recalibrate the value of money itself. [...]

Where is the Digital in International Monetary Fund?

The Bretton Woods Committee Blog, 22 October 2025

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is trailing the debate about digital monies. It is slow to incorporate key new monetary developments into its remit to improve cross-border payments and strengthen the international monetary system. The IMF has been a money innovator in the past, notably with the introduction of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR). But today, for an institution that has money in its name, it is conspicuously absent in its efforts to improve it. [...]

Stablecoins are not the future of international payments

The Banker, 2 September 2025

Once the preserve of the crypto community, stablecoins in recent years have been touted as a means of disrupting the global payments infrastructure, not least within areas such as cross-border transactions and foreign exchange settlement. Yet while stablecoins exhibit properties that lend themselves to settlement, a better option for cross-border payments has emerged in the form of tokenised money market funds.