The flip side of digital assets are, however, their inherent risks which, as just demonstrated by the collapse of FTX, can have far-reaching implications for their very markets and, eventually, spill over to the regulated financial system through various types of exposures for conventional players. Hence, authorities need to develop and deploy swift and appropriate regulatory responses, of which, I think, MiCA is a telling example. The European Union's Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets, on which we have acted as one of the advisors to the Spanish Treasury, lays down a set of common rules applicable to both crypto-asset issuers and service providers with a view to providing crypto-asset users with legal certainty and adequate legal protection. In the same way as we deal with banks, MiCA foresees an ex-ante authorisation of the new types of crypto-asset service providers. Moreover, it sets out a number of prudential, organisational and transparency requirements, as well as others relating to the safekeeping of client funds, conflicts of interest and outsourcing. With regard to their issuance and offering, MiCA introduces rules on both the authorisation of the respective players and on how to draft the "white paper" that should reflect all the necessary and accurate information future investors may require. MiCA leaves outside its scope non-fungible crypto-assets. Furthermore, it does not apply to crypto-assets that may be classed as financial instruments. The latter will still be governed by the existing legislation on financial services.

The overall experience has been positive and encouraging. That said, the sandbox is a learning process both for the authorities and the participating firms, and we are constantly working on possible ways to improve its functioning and usefulness for both the authorities and the private sector. In summary, central banks and other authorities have a range of tools and roles to play when facing the challenges posed by the increased digitalisation of the financial sector. I have tried to provide some European experiences from the regulatory angle (MiCA), but also from the perspective of the provision of services (the digital euro project) and from the more informal interaction that innovation hubs and sandboxes allow, with the Spanish sandbox as an example. Carefully choosing and calibrating the right tools is key to making the most of the opportunities that digitalisation offers, while mitigating its risks. Let me stop here, and thank you very much for your attention. 1 43% of respondents ranked privacy as the most important aspect of the digital euro  (well ahead of other features) in order to maintain trust in payments in the digital age. 2 For further details on these decisions and next steps, see "Progress on the  investigation phase of a digital euro", available at https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym /digital_euro/investigation/governance/shared/files/ecb.degov220929.en.pdf. 3 Caixabank, for peer to peer online payments; Worldline, for peer-to-peer offline  payments; EPI, for point of sale payments initiated by the payer; Nexi, for point of sale payments initiated by the payee; and Amazon, for e-commerce payments.