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Mirjam Plooij

8 January 2024
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLE
Economic Bulletin Issue 8, 2023
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Abstract
Through its TARGET Services, the Eurosystem facilitates the settlement of wholesale financial transactions in central bank money, the safest and most liquid settlement asset. Settling such transactions in central bank money helps to reduce risks to the financial system and to support financial stability and trust in the currency. The Eurosystem is continuously modernising its settlement infrastructures and adapting to changing user needs. In line with its commitment to provide settlement in central bank money via infrastructures that are fit for purpose – that is, to enable safe and efficient settlement services that meet the needs of their users – the Eurosystem has recently started analysing the impact of the emergence of new technologies, such as distributed ledger technology (DLT). This article describes the findings from Eurosystem market outreach activities regarding the expected future use of DLT for wholesale financial transactions, discusses possible Eurosystem responses to a significant industry uptake of these new technologies, and outlines the Eurosystem’s plans to further explore how wholesale financial transactions recorded on DLT platforms could be settled in central bank money.
JEL Code
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
11 July 2022
MACROPRUDENTIAL BULLETIN - ARTICLE - No. 18
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Abstract
Stablecoins are in the spotlight due to their rapid growth, increasing global use cases and potential financial risk contagion channels. This article analyses the role played by stablecoins within the wider crypto-asset ecosystem and finds that some existing stablecoins are already critical to liquidity in crypto-asset markets. This could have wide-ranging implications for crypto-asset markets if a large stablecoin were to fail and could also have contagion effects if crypto-assets’ interlinkages with the traditional financial system continue rising. To date, the speed and cost of stablecoin transactions, as well as their redemption terms and conditions, have fallen short of what is required of practical means of payment in the real economy. Their growth, innovation and increasing use cases, coupled with their potential contagion channels to the financial sector, call for the urgent implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and oversight frameworks before significant further interconnectedness with the traditional financial system occurs.
JEL Code
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
G13 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Contingent Pricing, Futures Pricing
G18 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Government Policy and Regulation
G28 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Government Policy and Regulation
23 August 2019
OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 229
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Abstract
As a result of technological advancements, instant delivery of digital services has become the norm in today’s society. Yet, until recently, this trend did not extend to retail payment services, which normally took one or up to a few working days from the end user's perspective. Following Europe’s recent launch of its own SEPA-wide instant payment platform, now is the time to ask the question: will instant payment services become “the new normal” and what would this new normal look like? This paper assesses the overall prospects of instant payments in the euro area. It identifies structural drivers and blockers to the adoption of instant payments based on the analysis of country cases where instant payments became operational in the last few years.
JEL Code
E41 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Demand for Money
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies