and anonymity of cryptos make them vulnerable to illicit activities. regarding stablecoins, there are specific concerns. stablecoins are cryptos whose value is tied – or is at least claimed to be tied – to an outside asset, such as a regular currency or gold. stablecoins can bring innovations, especially for cross - border payments, like cheap remittances. but they also bring risks, in particular if they would be adopted as a generally accepted means of payment – risks, for instance, regarding the safety, efficiency and integrity of payments systems ; or regarding cyber security and operational resilience ; or regarding data and consumer protection. and a final big trend i would like to mention, is that, today, financial institutions are increasingly using big data and artificial intelligence as part of their fintech solutions. just think of a bank ’ s chatbot. using ai, this chatbot can tell customers what to do when they lose their bank card or help them with information about taking out a loan. in the field of fintech, north macedonia has made commendable progress. recent research on 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches the feasibility of implementing fintech in north macedonia, led by the national bank, concluded that the country would be ready for a fintech - led transformation in the financial services sector. 1 a lot, if not all, of these trends and technological innovations, are here to stay. and as central bankers and supervisors, we welcome any technological innovation that has the potential to make payments more convenient and accessible for everyone ; the potential to contribute to our societies ’ welfare ; the potential to contribute to a trustworthy and stable financial system. but – there is a big sine qua non. for us, as supervisors and central bankers, trust goes hand in hand with rules, regulation and supervision. on the one hand, we need to give room to promising technological innovations, but on the other hand we need to keep the risks in check. with too much leeway for risks people might lose trust in the financial system. so, if we look at what is going on today, how are we looking at tomorrow? for many of us, the digital era means a welcome step forward in payment options. today, for instance, we use our smartphones for much more than just calling and texting. mobile payment requests, contactless payments, and smartphone and smartwatch payments have become the order of the day. but it would be wrong to assume

rules should at least protect public investment. the third point on my european to - do list is to improve coordination in other areas of economic policy. to effectively tackle the divergent competitiveness in the euro area, all member states must play their part. less productive economies need to implement reforms and investments that increase their productivity and competitiveness. this has obvious benefits for exports, economic growth and employment. and it decreases the productivity gap with more productive economies. these reforms are, however, more likely to succeed if the stronger economies also do their fair share. large and persistent trade surpluses often hide underlying problems, such as corporate savings retained for tax reasons, or stagnant wage growth. reforms aimed at increasing households ’ purchasing power would therefore not only increase welfare in the more competitive member states, but also make life easier for the more vulnerable ones. but let ’ s be realistic : such reforms will take time. even with the right policies in place, it will still take decades for many member states to get to where they need to be. in the coming years, countries with high levels of public debt will unlikely be able to weather another serious downturn without implementing far - reaching budget cuts and tax hikes. these countries then risk falling even further behind. which would again overshadow our objective of creating a stronger and more coherent monetary union. the best way to deal with this, is something we will have to continue reflecting on. 4 i certainly do not have all the answers. but i do believe that the agenda i have outlined would put us on the way to a stronger currency union. with european governments investing in sustainable growth, both jointly and individually. through more closely aligned economic policy. more european integration is not a popular message nowadays, i realize that. we could also choose to abstain from further european integration. that ’ s also an option, certainly. but there is a price to pay for that option. the price involves continued economic divergence between euro area member states, more debt crises, more emergency support and lower levels of prosperity. would the euro survive such a scenario? all the same, we are living in a different economic and monetary union than we imagined back in the 1990s. with more sharing of risk. and more harmonization of policy. in recent years we have pushed the boundaries of the treaty. there is no guarantee we will not have to do that again. so it is equally crucial to reaffirm the political mandate. it is up to politicians to state their