This initiative is supplemented by a series of requirements directly applicable to the provision of cryptoasset services, such as bans on the provision and custody of anonymous wallets, greater traceability of ownership changes and an extension of the list of obliged entities to include all crypto-asset service providers. At the European level, the European Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets, or MiCA as it is better known, is a regulatory initiative that seeks to offer a set of uniform rules and a common supervisory architecture to provide legal certainty and appropriate legal protection for crypto-asset users, thereby facilitating the orderly development of this ecosystem. As such, it envisages a range of provisions applicable both to crypto-asset issuers and to service providers. MiCA covers multiple types of crypto-asset service providers. It not only obliges them to obtain the necessary authorisation, but it also sets out various prudential, organisational and transparency requirements, as well as others relating to the safekeeping of clients’ funds, conflicts of interest and outsourcing, depending on the service provider's characteristics. In this respect, MiCA has much in common with the path followed by other jurisdictions, although the level of requirements and granularity included in these obligations is greater. One of the most pioneering aspects of MiCA is its approach to stablecoins, specifically as to the composition and management of their reserve assets and the conditions associated with their issuance. 31  FATF (2012), “International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation”, available at: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/recommendations/pdfs/FATF%20Recommendations%202012.pdf.

In addition, the crypto ecosystem inherits and may amplify the vulnerabilities of the mainstream financial system, as it grows and tries to replicate the functions of that system, and it introduces new points of vulnerability like bridges between blockchains or so called oracles that feed data to blockchains. Third, the investigations undertaken by many central banks, for the issuance of a retail and/or a wholesale CBDC, should be seen in my view as part of a broader response by central banks, in line with their monetary and financial stability mandate, to help bring the financial landscape, which will result from those transformations, within a confidence prone regulatory and operational framework, to help reap their benefits and master their risks. At the Banque de France, our response is based on three convictions: First, the traditional pillars to ensure confidence cannot be replaced by any "algorithmic" confidence, namely by rules of the game that would be coded once and for all and for which respect would be entrusted to algorithms. Second, confidence requires a regulatory framework that is clear, fair ("same business, same risk, same rule"), balanced and consistent at international level, if we want to simultaneously encourage innovation, protect adequately customers and investors, and maintain the stability of our financial system. Europe has led the way in this field, with the adoption of MiCA.