Speech by Mr Yannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of Greece, at the Crypto-Research Conference „New technologies, crypto, stablecoins and payments: a central bank perspective”, Athens, 29 September 2025.
Crypto-relevant technologies, which are the focus of discussion today, are bringing change and, in many cases, disruption in the financial industry. But, being a central banker for many years, I would like to stress that, with whatever new technologies and new ideas, our core concern always remains to maintain stability and confidence in the financial system.
The world of crypto, developed mostly over the last decade, has radically challenged our way of thinking about financial assets, about the concept of money and about the set up of market infrastructures that support payment and settlement systems.
We all see the impressive figures involved in the crypto industry: The stablecoin sector only, constitutes a 250 billion dollar1 market today. It is assessed that 27 trillion dollars moved through stablecoins last year – more than VISA and Mastercard combined. And the initial public offering (IPO) of a stablecoin giant last June was followed by an immediate sharp surge of its share prices.
Hence, we see that crypto instruments are now far from being a niche sector; they have become a substantial part of the financial ecosystem. But it is yet to be seen how the new ecosystem, the crypto-ecosystem, balances its explosive growth with regulation and public trust. This is, in my view, the focus of interest, especially from a central bank perspective.
Blockchain technology was for years considered a synonym to crypto assets (like bitcoin) and was associated with increased risks for investors and for the financial sector. And perhaps rightly so, as the crypto world had developed in a regulatory vacuum that is only now being contained by legislation – however, only in certain jurisdictions and in different ways.
In the last few years, blockchains and the wider Distributed Ledger Technology have gained momentum in the financial sector, both in the so-called Decentralized Finance (or DeFi), but also in institutional financial activities. Distributed ledger technology is transforming the financial ecosystem – but it also requires adjustments in business models as well as in the regulatory and supervisory set up.
Decentralised Finance (DeFi) is a segment of the crypto-asset universe that has expanded rapidly over the last few years. It represents a novel way of providing financial services to retail users, such as decentralized lending and payments. Usually it does not create novel financial products, but mimics those provided in traditional financial markets through technology-enabled innovation.
However, certain features such as how assets are held, how trust is generated and how the system is governed, distinguish it from traditional finance. It is important to note that, in fact, DeFi is in many ways subject to the same vulnerabilities as traditional finance, including those caused by excessive leverage and risk taking, liquidity mismatches and interconnectedness. Its novel technology and method of service provision can, however, amplify certain vulnerabilities and incur additional specific risks.
But, as said, the momentum of Distributed Ledger Technology has extended in the financial sector beyond the Decentralized Finance space. This technology is increasingly used at institutional level by credit institutions, financial markets and clearing and settlement systems in various use cases such as securities issuance, payments, tokenized deposits and funds. DLT is linked to the tokenization process, which is also gaining momentum with experiments and real world cases. Real world assets, such as bonds, equities and ownership rights on almost any object can be represented as tokens offering innovative services.
According to the BIS, tokenisation can help to enhance the efficiency of markets, reduce settlement risk, broaden investment access and spur the creation of new financial services. Similar to key monetary innovations of centuries past, the tokenisation of money and financial assets has the potential to expand the universe of possible contracting outcomes to support economic growth. However, significant challenges remain, notably the need for scalable platforms, regulatory clarity and robust infrastructure2.
Many issues and questions emerge in the context of the crypto-space: For example, regarding holders’ rights and protections, governance, and private law provisions. Public attention on such issues became greater as certain fraud episodes occurred, revealing severe weaknesses in the crypto ecosystem. Legislation does not address all issues or addresses them differently across jurisdictions. Various countries have introduced ambitious rules for the crypto market: the European Union (with the „MiCA” Regulation), the US (with the GENIUS Act), as well as certain major Asian countries3.
The European Union rules (MiCA) put more emphasis on conduct obligations, consumer protection and liability regimes. The DLT Pilot regime, another piece of relevant European legislation, facilitates trading and settlement of financial instruments in DLT-based platforms, permitting the use of various types of blockchains which could satisfy specific requirements.
The US rules (GENIUS Act) focus on operational requirements and very strict bankruptcy protections, particularly for the stablecoin market. It is interesting to note, in this context, that these new bankruptcy rules for stablecoin holders are indicative of the US administration’s push to embed crypto into the financial system, as the protections offered could be seen as comparable to deposit protections and thus could make the crypto instruments competitive with bank deposits.
Divergence of regulatory approaches across different jurisdictions creates risks: Crypto-market participants have to compete in an uneven space, navigating a complex patchwork of rules or risking to lose access to key markets. For regulators there are equally high risks, as the global legislative environment presents loopholes and gives rise to regulatory arbitrage. Hence, there is an obvious need for a global effort to harmonise rules and ensure a sufficiently level playing field for financial market participants. In my view, this is an important workstream that needs to be undertaken soon by international bodies, in cooperation with market participants.
Now let’s come to a crucial question: How have these developments impacted the area of payments? And what are the actions of central banks in this context?
Follow the link to read the article in full: Yannis Stournaras – New technologies, crypto, stablecoins and payments – a central bank perspective
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