look at the new member states, only two of them, in fact, show a level of debt above the reference value, but no fewer than six countries exceed the reference value for the budget deficit. on top of this we have wittnessed a marked expansion of the level of public debt in most of the countries over the past eight years. if the current overall and primary deficit ratios were maintained, the two high debt new member countries referred to above would move even further away from the 60 % reference value. three others would break the ceiling very soon. in the case of the remaining new member countries a continuation of the present deficit ratios would lead to a further rise in the debt ratio, even so they are today still comfortably below the reference value. it should also be pointed out that, on average, the new member states already maintain quite sizeable public sectors in relation to their levels of income. possible pressure for additional government activity, given growing prosperity, would be likely to run counter to the countries ’ stability policy needs. but we do not want to abandon hope. history, especially economic history, is an open process. over the past 15 years, the new member states have achieved remarkable reforms. even now, they are benefiting quite considerably from the “ convergence dividend ”, which is based, not least, on the expectations of the international financial markets that with the prospect of joining emu long run price stability can be achieved. it is all the more regrettable that some of the existing members of monetary union are tending to set a bad example in terms of government deficits. not only are they breaking the rules : even worse, having broken the rules, they now want the rules to be modified so that they can exonerate themselves. this development may have a knock - on effect on monetary union ’ s image and its credibility by undermining its institutional framework. emu member states are about to risk the unexpected fiscal consolidation success of the convergence process in the years leading up to monetary union. as you all know the ongoing discussions about the stability and growth pact are reaching their final stage in these days. the head of states and governments and the finance ministers of the eu are planning to finalise the so called " reform package " until the end of this month. in my view the discussions need to be brought to a convincing conclusion with an outcome that safeguards fiscal discipline. i do not want to comment on the ever changing proposals that have been circulated in brussels during the last days

equities ( chart 7 ). chart 7 : correlations between bitcoin returns and other asset classes have fluctuated over time. in addition, the crypto - asset system is highly exposed to settlement and operational risk in a small number of blockchains. for example, almost two - thirds of defi activity is based on the ethereum blockchain as a settlement layer. the crypto - asset system is exposed to liquidity risk. only a few stablecoins are crucial for the liquidity of crypto - asset trading, and they are also widely used as collateral for collateralised loans or margin trading. liquidity in the crypto - asset system specifically depends on a few stablecoins pegged to the us dollar. [ 31 ] these back their tokens mainly by investments in money market instruments. the system is thus exposed to shocks in money markets. currently, the crypto - asset system is not highly connected with the financial system. as long as crypto - asset entities do not have the necessary licences themselves, they depend on banks as a bridge between central bank currencies and the crypto - asset world to receive funding. yet, only a few internationally active banks reported crypto - asset exposures as at the end of june 2022, accounting for only 0. 013 % of total exposures. [ 32 ] similarly, investment funds based in the eu have limited exposure to crypto - assets as well. in april 2022, 111 funds reported crypto - asset exposures, all of which were alternative investment funds. [ 33 ] the majority of these funds were small, with net asset values below €100 million. by way of comparison, there is a total of around 60, 000 investment funds in the eu, representing an aggregate net asset value of around €18 trillion. 2. 4 complexity crypto - asset providers can be highly complex. crypto - asset conglomerates resemble financial conglomerates with complex risk profiles. [ 35 ] they not only operate as pure exchanges, but offer many different services within a single entity, including custody and derivatives trading. in the traditional financial system, these activities are separated or subject to prudential requirements in order to prevent conflicts of interest. in the case of ftx, for example, a similar separation or sufficient governance structures were not in place. crypto - asset conglomerates provide financial functions across multiple jurisdictions and operate through a network of global affiliates. some are headquartered in unre