assets gain prominence, to prevent regression in the safety and efficiency of wholesale transactions. accordingly, the banque de france was one of the first central banks to launch an ambitious experimental program focused on the use of wholesale central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) in various settlement processes for varied assets. in addition, in an evolving landscape, where traditional infrastructures are likely to coexist with new dlt systems, interoperability will be crucial in preventing market fragmentation and central bank money can help ensure it. the payment - vs - payment ( pvp ) experiment in cbdc we recently conducted with the hong kong monetary authority is an illustration of this, with an interoperability mechanism supported by swift to ensure synchronised settlement of both legs of the transaction. since may 2024, the eurosystem has also been testing various interoperable solutions for settling tokenised financial assets via central bank money and we are actively contributing to it. looking further ahead, the bis has put forward the vision of a global unified ledger - a long - term vision that could begin with the establishment of regional unified ledgers, such as a european unified ledger. project agora is likely to be an important building block in an exploratory approach to make this vision concrete and test it, and we are also taking part in it. 2. retail digital payments in the retail space, contrary to the wholesale one, we observe the coexistence and complementarity of central bank money – in the form of cash – and private money. while their respective role has evolved over time with users'habits, in europe it has undergone very rapid and significant changes in the past few decades, in relation with the development of the digital economy. the use of cash has steadily declined : in 2022, cash was used in 50 % of in - store payments in france, compared with 68 % in 2016. meanwhile, cashless payment solutions have rapidly developed, boosted by the growth of e - commerce and innovative solutions such as contactless and mobile payments. these changes bring many benefits for consumers, with payments becoming increasingly convenient, faster and innovative. the banque de france therefore strongly supports and encourages innovation by payments stakeholders and the private sector. however, digitalisation also comes with challenges for central banks. first, regulatory and supervisory frameworks need to be adopted to foster innovation in a trusted environment. this is what we have done in the case of private digital assets in europe where the mica regulation has provided a

same greener targets and objectives. finally, we reiterate our call for a strong, quota - based, and adequately resourced imf at the center of the global financial safety net. we call on the imf to ensure the timely completion of the 16th general review of quotas by december 2023. as before, we call for a revised quota formula that protects the share of poorest members, and for an increase in the imf ’ s quota resources to lessen its dependence on borrowed resources and to reinforce its lending capacity. we remain concerned about the projected sharp decline in the imf ’ s lending capacity which, unless reversed, could imperil the imf ’ s effectiveness and credibility.