the rise of non - bank players. there is no denying that, today, the “ centre of gravity ” for payments is shifting towards these new players, especially the bigtechs. this displacement poses a challenge for banks ’ economic model, but could also be a threat to european sovereignty insofar that the infrastructures, knowledge and technologies underlying it are largely owned by non - european corporations. the emergence, in parallel, of a new generation of crypto - assets is amplifying this disruption. the first wave of speculative crypto - assets such as bitcoin – which are very volatile, with no real underlying economic basis and perhaps no real future – has been succeeded by a second generation of assets – stablecoins – based on the same promising blockchain technology, but now backed by mechanisms designed to stabilise their value. thanks to network effects, these stablecoins could offer a concrete solution for cross - border payments which are still – undeniably – far too costly and slow. but – and this is the downside – these crypto - asset projects, which are global in reach, also generate considerable compliance, financial and political risks. i ’ m thinking notably of money - laundering and terrorism, for which they could provide new channels of financing, and of the more systemic risks to financial stability. ii / our response : step up the pace on payment solutions and consider the possibility of a 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches cbdc of course, as central bankers and supervisors, there is no question of us standing by and letting this change happen unchecked. we have to remain fully committed to our dual objective – safeguarding confidence / supporting innovation – which is written into the very dna of our institution. we are determined, first and foremost, to safeguard confidence – at the global level – through strong and coordinated action. under france ’ s presidency, the g7 reacted swiftly and strongly last june : alongside bruno le maire, we entrusted benoit cœure with a mandate immediately after the announcement of the libra project. cœure ’ s report – compiled over four months and published in october – provides a full assessment of the risks posed by stablecoins from a microeconomic viewpoint, in terms of anti - money laundering and consumer protection, but also from a macroeconomic one, in terms of financial stability. within the framework of the financial stability board ( fsb ), we are now preparing a coordinated regulatory response to these challenges, due to

be published by next summer. i shall turn now to the second pillar of our response : supporting innovation to enhance our payment systems and meet the growing expectations of consumers. we first have to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital revolution to develop a genuine paneuropean payment solution. as steve jobs said, “ innovation is saying no to a thousand things ”. this observation sheds light on the challenge that european banks are about to face with the peps - i project ( pan european payment solution initiative ). i have every hope that they will be able to forces – and go beyond “ national ” practices – and rapidly propose a single, paneuropean payment solution, thus avoiding market fragmentation and the dominance of noneuropean solutions. the eurosystem will be ready to provide support as and when needed, in line with what we are doing to promote the use of tips ( target instant payment settlement ). as a market infrastructure capable of processing pan - european instant payments, tips could be used for the interbank settlement of transactions initiated via peps - i. this pan - european solution would be a major step forward that would help european banks withstand the challenges posed by the bigtechs. there is also another important area where we need to make headway : reducing the cost and speeding up the execution of cross - border payments by identifying concrete and useful solutions. our aim should notably be to harmonise the technical standards used for transfers of funds, and to enhance the interoperability of payment systems and solutions. between now and the autumn, the fsb, under the aegis of the g20, will propose concrete measures to make cross - border, extra - european payments significantly cheaper and faster. i shall turn now to a topic that is a major challenge for the future of the international monetary and financial system : the possible creation of a central bank digital currency ( cbdc ). the creation of a new form of currency by central banks goes beyond the challenges i have just mentioned : it is neither a precondition for nor a guarantee of more efficient payments. however, we as central banks must and want to take up this call for innovation at a time when private initiatives – especially payments between financial players – and technologies are accelerating, and public and political demand is increasing. other countries have paved the way ; it is now up to us to play our part, both ambitiously and methodically. to this end, the banque de france is to be reorganised