state level. but i suspect, like most things, the answer is likely somewhere in the middle. while details remain to be worked out, the letta and draghi reports likely set out the broad roadmap for how this may be pursued. that said, there will be a need to radically prioritise. implementing the letta report alone would require a number of new legislative proposals, in addition to legislative reviews already committed to and implementation work that is required following the last commission term. as the draghi report outlines, europe must refocus its collective efforts on closing the innovation gap with the us and china, especially in advanced technologies. this is important for many reasons, including that faster innovation will, in turn, help raise the eu's productivity growth, leading to stronger growth in household incomes and stronger domestic demand. at the central bank of ireland, we recognise the many potential benefits and opportunities that new technologies bring to financial services and consumers in ireland and in europe. it is important that these benefits can be realised, whilst also ensuring that the risks are well understood and managed. regulation plays a crucial role in the safe, and therefore enduring, adoption of innovation into the system. innovation has brought in new entrants, new products and new ways of serving customers and the economy. as a result, technological innovation continues to be a focus for the central bank. this is one of the reasons why we have enhanced our innovation facilities – with the establishment of an innovation sandbox programme which is due to commence for the first time later this year - so that we can continue to engage, learn and develop a deeper understanding of the ecosystem, the opportunities, the benefits and the risks. our goal is not to remain stagnant but to evolve and iterate so that we continue to regulate and supervise effectively. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches recent years have seen tremendous innovations in financial services. amongst the most notable have been the development of blockchain - based technologies. we can see the many areas where the blockchain has significant potential to bring about positive change, even transformation, in how we do things. whether this be tokenisation of investment products or improvements in post - trade infrastructure and interoperability, there are important positive stories to tell. the european commission's 2020 digital finance package has set europe up well to take advantage of these developments. the package reflected the eu's ambition to embrace a digital transition, to help modernise the european economy across sectors

, and to turn europe into a global digital player. almost 4 years later, we are about to implement the markets in crypto - asset regulation, or micar. this is an important step forward in the regulation of crypto activities in europe while also leading the way on the regulation of the crypto sector globally. the potential for crypto and blockchain to build financial inclusivity or democratise finance has long been a theme of discussion in the sector. crypto enthusiasts speak readily to how crypto and blockchain technologies, paired with global internet access, can provide easy and immediate access to people across the world to financial services and achieve a level of financial inclusivity that the traditional financial services cannot. while this is an exciting prospect, it cannot be achieved without guardrails. for the first time, micar will introduce a harmonised regulatory framework for the sector that introduces prudential and conduct obligations for issuers of e - money tokens, asset - referenced tokens, and for crypto - asset service providers. there are also obligations for offers to the public of crypto - assets other than asset - referenced tokens or e - money tokens. there are two priorities i would signal with respect to micar implementation. firstly, we are working closely with our eu peers and the esas to ensure the necessary coordination and consistency across europe. the esas are, correctly, focused on driving a convergent approach to the implementation of micar in national authorities authorisation and supervision processes. we see this as highly important work. micar, being a first attempt at regulation in this area, is an important opportunity to avoid divergent approaches emerging in different jurisdictions. secondly, over recent years, we have been working to continually improve our authorisation process. through engagement with industry, other public bodies and applicants, we have sought to better explain our expectations, resulting in increased clarity and predictability. better risk assessment, better communication and better supervisory outcomes have been the output of that work. we have produced new publications, enhanced our internal processes and responded to the changes in the authorisation landscape, including the increase in the number of complex applications. under micar, you can expect our approach of continuous improvement to continue. innovation and new technologies can play an increasingly important role in facilitating retail investors participating in capital markets. as we shortly approach iosco's world investor week, which is a global campaign to raise awareness of the importance of investor education and protection, it