. although the bank of japan does not have a plan to issue its own digital currency at this juncture, the bank fully acknowledges the importance of deeply understanding innovative technologies not only for maintaining financial stability but also for seeking the possibility of applying them to central bank infrastructure in the future. central banks should always be attentive to on - going innovation, and continue making efforts to provide the best infrastructure to society in accordance with the development of technologies. i believe that this conference was very informative and fruitful for all participants. i sincerely hope that discussions on these issues will continue in various international forums, in order for innovations to contribute to the development of financial services and economic activities. at the end of my remarks, i wish each of you a safe journey home. thank you for your attention.

issuing " central bank money " with finality, namely, banknotes and central bank deposits. the modern currency system, which consists of a central bank and private banks, is characterized as " a two - tiered system. " in this two - tiered system, the central bank specializes in supplying banknotes and central bank deposits, while private banks perform the function of credit creation and provide deposit currencies as broader money. through such activities, private banks provide payment services to the general public and allocate financial resources to the economy as loans and credits. from the perspective of information processing, the emergence of central banks allowed people to get rid of the burden of evaluating the credibility of many payment instruments. the creation of central banks has substantially reduced the costs of information processing in payments and settlements. at the same time, private banks have contributed to efficient allocation of financial resources through their function of information processing. the modern two - tiered structure reflects the wisdom of human beings in history to achieve both efficiency and stability in the currency system. in this regard, the issuance of central bank digital currencies for general use could be analogous to allowing households and firms to directly have accounts in the central bank. this may have a large impact on the aforementioned two - tiered currency system and private banks'financial intermediation. under the current system, the central bank allows direct access to its accounts only to a limited number of entities such as private banks. from the viewpoint of the usage of information, the central bank leaves the private sector the opportunities to utilize detailed data such as " who buys what " attached to daily transactions. at the same time, the central bank can obtain the information necessary to maintain the stability of payment and settlement systems through operating its wholesale settlement systems. the issuance of central bank digital currencies could also affect such a role - sharing structure for utilizing information. to sum up, it innovation raises many fundamental questions and challenges related to the currency system, the design of central bank infrastructure and the utilization of information attached to economic activities. i sincerely hope our understanding of these issues will be further deepened in the future. initiatives taken by the bank of japan to tackle these new challenges, the bank of japan has recently been taking various initiatives in the fields of innovation and fintech. in 2016 the bank established its " fintech center. " the bank has also been conducting a joint research project called " project stella " with the european central bank to study the potential of distributed ledger technology