but are even forbidden ; it's the'api law'that regulates relationships between parties that do not know each other and that can only trust each other thanks to the digital guarantee offered by technological standards : this is also the path that will lead open banking towards open finance. these technological interdependences will be equally strong for payment solutions and financial services developed on blockchain platforms ( i am referring in particular to emoney tokens as defined in the mica regulation ). we then need to ponder the consequences of this new technological paradigm on our regulatory framework : the traditional supervisory and / or oversight approach, which postulates responsibilities that can clearly be traced back to specific entities, is no longer fit to meet the challenges posed by the new fragmented ecosystem of entities. it is therefore important to go beyond the'single entities dimension'and to consider how to factor the relationships between subjects, infrastructures, tools and services into the 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches new regulatory framework. one way forward is to think about a product - oriented approach, whereby all entities involved in the supply chain of payment services, such as the provision of digital wallets for payment transactions, need to comply with the core principles underpinning the oversight of payments systems, including beyond their reciprocal contractual relationship. this approach is in line with the new eurosystem oversight framework for electronic payment instruments, schemes and arrangements ( pisa ), applicable as of november 2022, which is important because it introduces two significant innovations. first of all, it goes beyond the traditional notion of a'funds transfer ', embracing instead that of a'value transfer ', thereby extending the oversight scope to digital payment tokens ( e. g. crypto - assets used within a scheme and stablecoins ). the framework also targets not only traditional payment schemes but also'arrangements ', ( e. g. the aforementioned digital wallets ) thereby bringing the complex dimensions that characterize the new digital ecosystems under the overseer's competencies. this somewhat lengthy discussion about who and what should be on the regulator's radar brings me to my second pillar, which is the need to constantly bear in mind that we are dealing with a very dynamic ecosystem. therefore, while we are looking at the current supply chains, and in particular at their single components, we also need to monitor how they evolve over time and, more importantly, whether new ones are established with the aim of providing new services or old services in an innovative

way. i have in mind, for example, all micro - payments, machine initiated payments, and payments in real time using online services. continuous monitoring of the current ecosystem is therefore pivotal to designing regulations that are flexible enough to be'future - proof'so to speak, in an attempt to accommodate the continuous flow of innovation. finally, and this is my third pillar, we must ask ourselves whether we, as regulators, are fully equipped to achieve the daunting task i have tried to sketch out so far or whether a closer interaction with payment industry might be useful. to be frank, we do not know a great deal about how to regulate areas where the boundaries among activities and subjects are blurred ; these are uncharted waters for us and a more prudent approach is needed. therefore, in addition to the rules on entities and activities and to the oversight framework on payments systems and services, it might be wise to rely on'soft'regulations based on the definition of standards and practices developed according to a logic of public - private collaboration ; this collaborative mode could ensure a sufficient degree of adherence with respect to ongoing technological development. a practical example of this approach is represented by the protocol that the bank of italy has signed with two italian universities – roma tre and cattolica di milano – to explore the role of smart contracts in dlts and to provide a basis for the development of technical standards and rules to be shared with those who, like the developers of the algorithms, are outside the traditional perimeter of intervention of the regulatory and control authorities ; the first results of this work ( a taxonomy of dlts and the relative smart contracts ) will soon be made public to collect observations and suggestions from 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches all interested parties in order to be able to proceed to the most important phase for defining'good principles '. to conclude, the retail payments industry is an incubator of innovation. central banks and supervisory authorities can play a key role in ensuring that the positive externalities of innovation benefit consumers and businesses alike. the bank of italy is actively involved in this process by monitoring market developments, interacting with market operators and supporting the early adoption of digital technologies by the financial market. in this context – particularly with regard to interaction with the market – the activities of the bank of italy's innovation facilitators are noteworthy, especially those of the comitato pagamenti italia ( italian payments committee, cpi ), managed by the bank of italy, which