denis beau : opportunities and challenges of the tokenisation of finance introductory statement by mr denis beau, first deputy governor of the bank of france, at the european and american chamber of commerce event, new york city, 17 january 2023. * * * digitalisation is far from being new in the financial sector, but tokenisation based on dlts may be a new turn. in my initial remarks i would like to explain why, at the banque de france and the acpr, from the standpoint of our financial stability mandate, we have a strong interest in the development of tokenised finance, and how it impacts the policy tools we use to fulfil our mandate. i / the tokenisation of finance is of prime interest for two main reasons : 1 / it is part of the significant transformation drivers of our financial landscape indeed, digital technologies are profoundly transforming finance, ushering in a wave of new players at the crossroads of it and finance, digital assets in new, tokenised form - usually referred to as crypto - assets, for investment and settlement, and new exchange and settlement infrastructures. their combination is translating in activities and services that first swept into the payment sector and are now spreading more broadly. among them, so - called decentralised finance, defi, is emerging as a crypto - based alternative to traditional finance where the provision of services is disintermediated and their governance decentralised, and is enabled notably by permissionless blockchains, smart contracts and decentralised applications ( dapps ). for the time being the crypto ecosystem is by very far not large enough to threaten the dominant role of mainstream finance. but this may evolve going forward, if we look beyond the current setbacks faced by the sector. so we consider that it is important to keep an eye on it. 2 / the second reason for our interest is the two - sided impact the tokenisation of finance might have on the functioning of our financial system, both in terms of efficiency and stability. from an efficiency perspective, a case in point is the recourse to dlt which underpins the development of tokenised finance. it has actually a largely recognised potential to enhance transparency, with a better tracking of transactions and ownership, but also cost - efficiency and availability around the clock. but it brings also a risk of fragmentation of processes, if the underlying blockchains are not interoperable and cannot also smoothly interact with legacy, centralised, clearing, settlement

of the increased resilience it will bring to the financial sector. it is therefore particularly important that all those involved are well prepared and this afternoon's thematic workshop, run by teams from the acpr and the amf, will provide all those concerned with answers to any questions they may have. * * * i will conclude with a quote from benjamin franklin : “ there are many ways not to succeed, but the surest way is never to take risks. ” fintechs know well how to take risks and in doing so, they also enable the financial sector as a whole to innovate and adapt to technological change. nevertheless, dangers relating to these changes must be known and controlled, so we also need to forge a successful alliance between innovators and regulators. you can count on our commitment to this objective. thank you for your attention. page 6 of 5 villeroy de galhau ( f. ), fintechs : at the forefront of “ new frontiers ”, opening address of the 4th acpr - amf fintech forum – paris, 16 october 2023. ii france fintech, half - yearly report, 2024 iii europe's markets in crypto - assets ( mica ) regulation iv eu regulation of 30 may 2022 setting up a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology. v villeroy de galhau ( f. ), innovation by central banks : the sooner the better, speech delivered at the bis innovation summit – 6 may 2024 vi eu ai act vii through workshops organised with banks and insurers, techsprints that bring together fintechs, data scientists and more traditional players, and research. viii directive ( eu ) 2015 / 2366 relating to payment services. ix framework for financial data access, ( fida ). x villeroy de galhau ( f. ), big techs in finance : a bildungsroman that is far from over, speech at the bis conference, 9 february 2023. xi le developpement des big techs dans le secteur financier : quels risques, quelles reponses reglementaires?, acpr study published on 14 october 2024. i