consumers are increasingly turning towards non - cash payments. only 20 % of the cash stock is now used for payments, down from 35 % fifteen years ago. we will ensure that cash remains available. but if the current trend continues, we could face a future in which cash loses its central role and its ability to provide an effective anchor as consumers turn to digital means of payment. we cannot allow public money to become marginalised, for two good reasons. first, just a few global players have come to dominate certain segments of the payments market, such as card payments and e - commerce. this trend could be accentuated by the expansion of big techs, which can offer payment services leveraging their large consumer base and dominant position in related markets. this could result in an uneven playing field that harms competition and raises data privacy concerns. and by creating further dependencies on non - european providers, it could increase risks to europe ’ s strategic autonomy and threaten monetary sovereignty if central bank money is no longer at the heart of the payment system. second, even digital payments will ultimately depend on the anchoring role of public money to function smoothly. confidence that “ one euro is one euro ” whatever form it takes rests on our ability to convert, at par, private money – such as funds held in bank deposits or digital wallets – into public money, which is the safest form of money available. this possibility of conversion reinforces confidence in the various forms of private money used for euro payments, ensuring the smooth functioning of the payment system. recent developments in the market for crypto - assets illustrate that it is an illusion to believe that private instruments can act as money when they cannot be converted at par into public money at all times. despite claims that cryptos are a trustworthy form of “ currency ” free from public control, they are too risky to act as a reliable means of payment. they behave more like speculative assets and raise multiple public policy and financial stability concerns. [ 4 ] anyone investing in cryptos must be prepared to lose all their investment. to mitigate these risks, so - called stablecoins have emerged and have the potential to become globally systemic, especially if issued by big techs. but while the value of stablecoins is linked to what their issuers describe as “ reserve assets ” and adequate regulation and oversight could reduce risks, stablecoins are not risk - free. [ 6 ] there is no guarantee that they can be redeemed at par at any

in time, would you support greece in a different way? 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches if we want to take a long, hard look at ourselves, we should go back further than the greek crisis, to the beginnings of the euro area. between 1999 and 2010, we allowed budgetary situations and wage costs to diverge between countries, which led to the crisis. that was the first lesson. faced with the crisis, we had to support greece – it was a question of solidarity. we also had to involve the imf which, unlike europe, had experience in supporting countries through crises. and it was essential to reduce public expenditure, because greece was clearly living beyond its means. the mistake, from my point of view, was in reducing it too drastically, which made the recession worse. we should have been more realistic about the sustainability of greece ’ s debt and insisted on competitiveness and combatting rent - seeking from the start, instead of leaving taxpayers and workers to foot the bill for the adjustment. i might add that europe lacks a budgetary instrument to support social adjustment in crisis countries, which could have prevented dramatic situations – schools without heating and hospitals without medicine – such as we saw in greece. on 14 june the ecb announced, as expected, the end of its policy of asset purchases, referred to as quantitative easing or qe. in contrast, the first rise in interest rates is going to come later than expected. does that reflect your concerns about the robustness of growth? growth is still robust throughout the euro area, despite the moderation in the first quarter, and even in the second quarter in certain countries. but there is increasing uncertainty arising from tensions in world trade as well as the risk of volatility in the financial markets and in certain emerging economies, and we have to take all that into account. hence the unanimous decision by the governing council : on the one hand, due to the robust growth we are confident that inflation will return to close to 2 % and we anticipate our net asset purchase programme to end in december ; on the other hand, we recognise the need to maintain a very accommodative monetary policy. we expect our policy rates to remain unchanged until at least through the summer of 2019. and we will continue to reinvest the principal payments from maturing securities in our portfolio, or around €15 billion per month, in 2019. that ’ s what surprised most observers, and the markets … yes, for the