this implies that central banks revisit the central bank money services they provide with the objective of adapting them to the digital age. this is necessary for the services provided in the wholesale sphere, for the settlement of transactions between financial intermediaries, which are the most important from a systemic risk perspective. today, central bank money is the very dominant settlement asset in that space because it is the safest and most liquid settlement asset on supply. it is essential that tomorrow it remains so, in particular if tokenized finance takes off. these attributes of central bank money cannot be matched by stablecoins or commercial bank money. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches hence our strong and early involvement at the banque de france in a large - scale experimentation program on wholesale cbdc with a number of market participants ; and the announcement by the ecb a few days ago that the eurosystem will explore potential solutions for central bank money settlement of wholesale financial transactions recorded on dlt platforms. adapting our central bank money services might also be necessary in the retail space. hence the in depth investigations led by the ecb with the ncbs of the eurosystem. a digital euro would contribute to the anchoring role of central bank money by offering to the general public cbm in a form that would be complementary to banknotes and adapted to the growing demand of the public for digital payments. in addition, a digital euro would contribute to strengthening our strategic autonomy. to conclude, let me just stress that it is not clear to me what is going to be the destiny of digital finance and the shape that the financial landscape will eventually take as a result, in the medium run. market forces will decide. but what is clear to me is the role we, as a central bank, should play, which is to make sure that the shape evolves in a confidence prone regulatory and operational framework, which implies that we play an active role to help build that framework on both aspects, in line with our mandate. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

increasingly focused on the euro with implications for its international use. a second factor relates to the euro area financial market. the acceptance and use of the euro by foreign agents are to a large extent determined by the efficiency and integration of the euro area money and capital markets. in this connection, progress has been made, especially with regard to those sectors of the financial system which are used as the primary channels for the operation and transmission of the single monetary policy. thus, thanks to the target system, money markets are now close to perfect integration, given that the spreads amongst euro area countries are extremely low and reflect different credit standings of counterparties rather than market segmentation. in clearing, settlement and trading systems for securities, integration is not quite as complete as in money markets, but a process is under way to create a euro area - wide financial infrastructure by linking existing national systems. in government bond markets, segmentation may not be eliminated completely since, as you know, each member state remains responsible for its own fiscal and public debt management policy. therefore, public bonds in the euro area will continue to be characterised by yield spreads which reflect mainly the differences in the credit standing of sovereign national issuers and in market liquidity conditions. however, the ongoing integration of financial markets in the euro area as well as increasing competition amongst intermediaries are likely to bring about greater liquidity, lower transaction costs and the development of a wider array of financial products. as this process develops, the international use of the euro is likely also to benefit from it. i would like to mention a last aspect of the internationalisation process of the euro. this refers to the possibility that the large size of the euro area as well as its lower trade openness, as compared with the participating member states, might contribute to reducing the vulnerability of its economy and financial markets to possible external shocks, making euro area developments less correlated with trends prevailing abroad. against this background, euro - denominated assets would provide international investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolios, enhancing the risk - return profile thanks to the pooling of not closely correlated assets. the development of the euro as an international currency is not likely to be a steady process. the possible increase in the international use of the euro may not be rapid in early years until a critical threshold is reached attracting more and more international agents. besides, the euro is probably going to develop faster as an international store of value than as an international transaction and pricing instrument. furthermore, the reaction