New York Innovation Center

The New York Innovation Center (NYIC) bridges the worlds of finance, technology, and innovation. The NYIC conducts research, analysis, and technical experimentation to generate insights into high-value central banking-related opportunities aimed at enhancing the functioning of the global financial system.
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Featured Research
How Censorship Resistant Are Decentralized Systems?
RESEARCH | February 14, 2025
Public permissionless blockchains are designed to be censorship resistant, meaning access to the blockchain is unhampered. In this post, the authors summarize findings regarding sanction cooperation on Tornado Cash at the settlement layer by “block proposers”—a set of settlement actors specifically responsible for selecting new blocks to add to the blockchain.
Tokenization: Another Giant Leap for Securities?
ANALYSIS | SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
As a host of central banks, banks, and other financial institutions are experimenting with “tokenizing” money and securities, this article explains what tokenization is and how it works, and looks at how past innovation in financial markets might offer lessons for the future.

Project Agorá: Exploring Tokenization and Wholesale Cross-Border Payments
PRESS RELEASE | April 3, 2024
The NYIC, in collaboration with central banks and commercial financial institutions, explores enhancements to cross-border wholesale payments.




Project Cedar: Improving Cross-Border Payments With Distributed Ledger Technology
PROJECT | MAY 18, 2023
Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+, a partnership between NYIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, examined whether distributed ledger technology could be used to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments and settlements involving multiple currencies.



Facilitating Wholesale Digital Asset Settlement
PROJECT | MAY 8, 2024
The New York Innovation Center, in collaboration with members of the U.S. financial services sector, participated in a research study that explored the feasibility of distributed ledger technology to facilitate safe and efficient wholesale payments.

Examining CBDC and Wholesale Payments
RESEARCH | SEPTEMBER 8, 2023
Examining the key technological characteristics and potential arrangements of tokenized distributed platforms and comparing them with existing settlement assets, transfer mechanisms, and balance sheet entries, we argue that a new settlement asset in the form of central bank money is not essential for a tokenized wholesale payment system.
Opportunity Areas define our focus
The NYIC discovers high-value learning opportunities in six areas:
Future of Money
Exploring the potential for digital assets and tokenization to improve wholesale payments.

Financial Market Infrastructures
Advancing payments systems that move wholesale money and other assets between financial institutions.
Open Finance
Understanding how financial institutions leverage new business and operating models such as open banking, banking as a service, and decentralized finance.
Supervisory and Regulatory Technology
Using advanced data and analytics capabilities to support and promote a safe, sound, and stable financial system.
Cyber Risk
Exploring opportunities to reduce cyber risk and mitigate related costs.
Climate Risk
Generating climate risk insights for the central bank community.
NYIC Research and Related News
Regulating Decentralized Systems: Evidence from Sanctions on Tornado Cash
Research | August 7, 2024
Blockchain-based systems are run by a decentralized network of participants and are designed to be censorship-resistant. This paper examines sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury on Tornado Cash, a smart contract protocol, to study the impact of regulation in decentralized systems.
New York Fed to Participate in Joint International Research Effort on Tokenization and Cross-Border Payments
Press Release | April 3, 2024
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's New York Innovation Center (NYIC) today announced that it will participate in an international technical research project that will explore whether the tokenization of central bank money and commercial bank deposits operating on a shared programmable ledger can improve wholesale cross-border payments.
What Makes Cryptocurrencies Different?
Research | August 16, 2023
Permissionless blockchains are able to transfer value without relying on a small number of trusted third parties because of several components working together. In this post, we provide a high-level overview of these components and how they interact.
Research Study Examines Feasibility of Theoretical Payments System Designed to Facilitate and Settle Digital Asset Transactions
Press Release | July 6, 2023
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s New York Innovation Center (NYIC), in collaboration with members of the U.S. financial services sector, published the findings of a proof of concept (PoC) that explored the feasibility of an interoperable network for wholesale payments operating on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger.
New York Fed and Monetary Authority of Singapore Publish Results of Joint Wholesale Cross-Border Payments Research Study
Press Release | May 18, 2023
NEW YORK, SINGAPORE – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s New York Innovation Center and the Monetary Authority of Singapore today published a research report detailing the results of the joint Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ experiment, which examined whether distributed ledger technology could be used to improve the efficiency of cross-border wholesale payments and settlements involving multiple currencies.
New York Fed Announces Phase I Results of the New York Innovation Center’s Project Cedar
Press Release | November 4, 2022
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today issued a report on the Phase I results of Project Cedar, the inaugural project of its New York Innovation Center (NYIC). Project Cedar is a multiphase research effort to develop a technical framework for a theoretical wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) in the Federal Reserve context through exploration of fundamental design choices and modular technical features.
Advances in Digital Currency Experimentation
Speech | November 4, 2022
At the Singapore FinTech Festival, Michelle Neal, head of the New York Fed Markets Group, discussed the landscape of digital assets and some of the ways that the Federal Reserve System is engaging in research and experimentation that support ongoing innovation.
Introducing the New York Innovation Center
Event | November 29, 2021
The New York Fed hosted a virtual event to launch the New York Innovation Center, a strategic partnership with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub. At this event, senior leaders from the New York Fed, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the BIS, and the private sector shared their perspectives on the importance of innovation for the central bank community.
New York Fed Launches the New York Innovation Center to Support Financial Technology Innovation in Central Banking
Press Release | November 29, 2021
NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today launched the New York Innovation Center (NYIC), to advance a strategic partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub. As part of the New York Fed, the NYIC is collaborating with the Federal Reserve System, the BIS Innovation Hub, and public and private sector experts to validate, design, build, and launch new financial technology products and services for the central bank community.
New York Fed Names Per von Zelowitz as Director of the New York Innovation Center
Press Release | July 1, 2021
NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that Per von Zelowitz has been named the director of the New York Innovation Center effective July 19, 2021.
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