##ooij, anders ryden, jurgen schaaf and anton van der kraaij for their input and comments. 2. panetta, f. ( 2022 ), “ for a few cryptos more : the wild west of crypto finance ”, speech at columbia university, new york, 25 april. 3. a complex, interlinked but mostly unregulated crypto ecosystem of miners, wallets, tumblers and exchanges has developed, and a range of ancillary crypto services mimicking traditional financial services have come to the fore in the form of decentralised finance ( defi ). with defi it is now possible, for example, to lend, borrow and earn returns when “ staking ” or “ yield farming ” crypto - assets. 4. as warren buffett famously noted, “ only when the tide goes out do you discover who ’ s been swimming naked ”. 5. for example, transactions involving bitcoins are lengthy procedures, and the number of operations that can be completed over a specific period of time is comparatively very limited. 6. for example, producing and trading bitcoin alone wastes huge amounts of energy : the equivalent of the entire annual electricity consumption of a country that has millions of inhabitants, like belgium. see cambridge bitcoin electricity consumption index. 7. europol notes that the illicit use of crypto - assets is predominantly associated with money laundering purposes, the ( online ) trade of illicit goods and services, and fraud. see europol ( 2021 ), “ cryptocurrencies : tracing the evolution of criminal finances ”, europol spotlight report series. chainalysis estimates that the amounts of crypto - assets exchanged for criminal purposes exceeded usd 15 billion in 2021 and notes that criminal activity appears to be more resilient in the face of price declines, with illicit volumes down just 15 %, year on year, in the first half of 2022, compared with 36 % for legitimate volumes. in the case of hacking, the value stolen was even higher in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021. see chainalysis ( 2022 ), “ mid - year crypto crime update : illicit activity falls with rest of market, with some notable exceptions ”, august. chainalysis estimates are conservative. europol emphasises that “ estimations from chainalysis are based on their own attribution datasets where transactions are tagged as illicit

mr duisenberg discusses prospects, challenges and opportunities for the euro area and gives a brief overview of developments in latin america speech by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, at the conference “ resilience and resurgence in latin america ”, held in new york on 1 october 1999. * * * ladies and gentlemen, europe ’ s strong ties and close affinity with latin america stem from its people ’ s common origins, culture, and trade. i am particularly pleased, therefore, to be able to participate in this conference. during the past few months, the prospects for the global economy have gradually improved and the world economy appears to be heading towards a more balanced growth path. while uncertainties still remain as to the strength of the recovery, especially in regions which were most affected by the global slowdown in 1998, the risks of a worldwide recession have receded and inflationary pressures generally remain subdued. a more optimistic view of the global economy is warranted, as macroeconomic policies around the world have become more stability - oriented over the past decade. a general consensus has emerged on the need for monetary policy to focus on the achievement and maintenance of price stability. in many countries, a higher level of fiscal discipline has also favoured the pursuit of a stability - oriented monetary policy and has set the conditions for a more sustainable economic growth. while these are certainly important policy achievements, still, as emphasised by the imf in its latest world economic outlook, important challenges lie ahead and need to be addressed by policymakers around the world if a long - lasting and sustainable recovery is to be ensured. the growing international integration of capital markets offers great opportunities for a more efficient allocation of global resources. as recent experience has shown, however, it also carries risks of destabilisation, especially in countries where domestic financial systems are fragile or macroeconomic imbalances are still present. in such a situation, economic policy faces new and more complex challenges. it is important to stress, however, that the improved outlook for the global economy points to the possibility of addressing old problems and facing new challenges with a higher probability of success. this is particularly true for the euro area economy where the outlook for growth has recently improved, contributing to more optimistic prospects at the global level. the euro area comprises the economies of the eleven countries which, at the beginning of this year, introduced the euro, the new single european currency. in the euro area, a slowdown in output growth was observed around