Fed’s Hammack says AI agents using stablecoins would mark a major shift

The Cleveland Fed president linked smart contracts and agentic workflows to dollar demand, but warned that US rules haven't caught up A sitting Federal Reserve president is now talking openly about software paying software. Cleveland Fed President Beth M. Hammack said that AI agents using stablecoins would mark a major shift in how money moves. That is not a sentence most people expected from a central banker a few years ago. It also comes with a catch: Hammack says US regulation isn’t built for the scenario she is describing. What Hammack actually said Hammack delivered the remarks on November 5, 2026, at the SNB and Its Watchers Conference. Her broader topic was how stablecoins relate to the US dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency. She pointed to two technological features as the main draw. The first is that stablecoins can run smart contracts. The second is that they can support what she called “agentic workflows.” Smart contracts are self-executing code. Think of a vending machine: put in the right input, and the output happens automatically, with no clerk involved. Agentic workflows take that a step further. They are tasks carried out by AI agents that act on a user’s...