Peter Phelan

VP of Strategic Advisory

Elliptic

Peter Phelan is Vice President of Strategic Advisory at Elliptic, where he brings extensive experience at the intersection of banking, public policy, and market infrastructure. In his role, Peter helps financial institutions explore opportunities in the digital asset space, guiding them on trusted, compliant pathways to innovation and effective regulatory engagement.

Previously, Peter served as Head of Regulatory Management for Citi’s Client business line, where he coordinated interactions with U.S. and global regulators across Citi’s Institutional Credit Management (wholesale credit, transaction management) and Digital Asset/Distributed Ledger Technology functions. Before that, he was Chief Administrative Officer for Citi’s North American Institutional Clients Group, overseeing all control functions and leading Citi’s LIBOR transition program.

In June 2023, Peter was named Chair of the Federal Reserve–convened Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), successfully leading the global, industry‑wide transition from LIBOR to SOFR.

Prior to Citi, Peter served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Capital Markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he led policy work on the GSEs, securitization markets, and the LIBOR transition, and was awarded the Treasury Medal for his service. He also co‑led the implementation of Uniform Mortgage‑Backed Securities (UMBS) with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and contributed to the Secretary’s pandemic emergency response team, coordinating with the Federal Reserve on market stabilization facilities.

Earlier in his career, Peter held roles at CIT Group and Commerzbank, managing capital markets teams delivering interest rate and foreign exchange risk management solutions and overseeing asset/liability management across multiple markets.

Featured Sessions

Thursday, March 19, 2026

4:05 pm

Regulation Won’t Save You: The On-Chain Execution Crisis Facing TradFi Leaders

While TradFi and crypto leaders seek regulatory “clarity,” that alone isn’t enough, particularly for financial institutions. As tokenization, on-chain settlement, and programmable finance move from pilots to production, the crucial factor for TradFi leaders will be their execution capability: operating models, talent authority, cultural readiness, and strategic clarity that allow them to establish durable, profitable positions in the native conditions of on-chain finance over the next three years.

The panel discussion will focus on what must change inside traditional financial firms to compete with native on-chain players and fast-moving incumbents, including:

What changes once regulatory “permission” is no longer the bottleneck?
Which firms are still hiding behind regulatory uncertainty as an excuse for inaction?
How much regulatory clarity is enough to move real capital on-chain?
Why quarterly roadmaps fail in 24/7, real-time markets.
What has to break (processes, controls, approvals) to ship on-chain products.
Can TradFi genuinely iterate in public — and should it?
Why crypto expertise without decision-making power doesn’t execute.
Where TradFi org charts quietly kill on-chain momentum.
What governance models actually work for on-chain business lines.
Why “digital asset divisions” often become organizational dead ends.
How treasury, risk, compliance, and ops must change for atomic settlement.
When permissioned chains help — and when they slow you down.
How on-chain transparency changes risk management and reputation.
Why do you exist on-chain? Issuer, liquidity provider, infrastructure, risk wrapper—pick one.
Why “tokenization strategy” is not a business model.
How native players are defining the rules faster than incumbents.
What will be considered a failed digital asset strategy in hindsight?