These clearly create opportunities to improve payment services in at least three ways, by:  2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  Harnessing the underlying blockchain technology to improve or supplement existing processes: the Banque de France is already employing blockchain technology to improve industry processes. For example, we are using a blockchain project called MADRE to assign SEPA Creditor Identifiers, which are needed for creditors to issue direct debits. Helping to remedy market inefficiencies: this could be done in the area of international multi-currency payments, for example, with a view to improving the conditions under which individuals transfer funds abroad. Diversifying project financing methods: a prime example would be ICOs, which have enabled swift and large-scale fundraising in the network technologies sector in the past two years. 3. Yet for all that, can crypto-assets become true currencies that will revolutionise our payment system, providing the decisive innovation that will lead us to the cashless society that some people are predicting and even hoping for? For the time being, this seems unlikely because existing crypto-assets are far from perfect. As many central bankers have pointed out, today’s crypto-assets do not satisfactorily offer the qualities expected of a currency and cannot be considered as such: First, their value fluctuates enormously, preventing them from being used as units of account. As a result, very few prices are denominated in crypto-assets and not many large brick-and-mortar or online retailers accept bitcoin for example, although there are some exceptions [i.e.

Along with the reduced fiscal stimulus in 2012, they resulted in a weak aggregate demand and low economic growth during the first three quarters of the year. Despite the negative impact on economic growth rate, the financial and macroeconomic stability resulted stable. In spite of demand volatility and supply concerns, inflation resulted low and in check, reflecting, inter alia, good anchoring of public expectations around the 3% target. Fiscal balance sustainability, Albania’s improved external position, and sound real-sector and financial-sector balances in the economy further strengthened Albania’s economic and financial stability over this period. Average annual consumer price inflation resulted 2.7% in the third quarter of the year, increasing gradually along the year. Added contribution of prices for unprocessed food and non-food consumer goods mostly created this quarter’s annual inflation rate. On the other hand, prices of other basket items were stable and slightly volatile. The economic and monetary analyses confirm the presence of weak demand-induced inflationary pressures. Developments in the real sector of the economy conditioned the controlled price rise of domestic products. These tendencies have been reflected in the downward trend of core inflation and low non-traded inflation of the consumer price index basket. Consumer price performance continued to reflect the low pressures from other cost elements. In particular, import prices were low and given the relative exchange-rate stability, they transmitted low pressures from imported inflation. Following the economic contraction in the first quarter, Albanian economy fell by 2.0% y-o-y, in the second quarter.