The “crypto winter” caused by the crashes of Terra-Luna followed by Celsius Network, by no means signifies that cryptos are over; it’s more of a weeding-out process. The share of stablecoins that are, in principle, backed by mechanisms to stabilise their value has risen fivefold in 20 months. Ensuring a lasting future for stablecoins – which is a legitimate goal – means remaining vigilant with regard to the associated risks. Because, in reality, the name covers a wide range of different forms: -  “crypto-backed” stablecoins, where the word “stablecoin” is a misnomer  as the coins are backed by other crypto-assets; or algorithmic stablecoins, a category to which Luna belonged; -  stablecoins backed by a basket of assets held in reserve, for example  commodities or monetary assets, such as money market funds and commercial paper; in reality these are similar to investment tools and should be treated as such; -  last, stablecoins backed by bank deposits denominated in a single  currency, which are designed to be used as global payment instruments. Page 4 of 5 Regardless of what form they take, stablecoins are, at this stage and in the majority of cases, denominated in dollars and have been developed outside Europe. Their widescale use within Europe would therefore pose a dual challenge, for our strategic autonomy and for our monetary stability; indeed this is one of the reasons why the Eurosystem has launched an investigation phase on a retail digital euro.
If existing players and Fintechs did not both know how to innovate, and often innovate together, it’s the Bigtechs that would ultimately reap the rewards. 2. Promote the integration of Fintechs into the regulatory framework In response to these transformations, our role as public authorities is twofold: to continue to safeguard financial stability and therefore trust, but also to act as a catalyst for innovation – two roles that are far more complementary than they are contradictory. Financial stability without innovation would be a form of dying conservatism; innovation without trust would be a fleeting fad. We therefore want, clearly, concretely and firmly, to facilitate the entry of new players into the regulated arena. To this end, at the end of last year, we adopted the Fintech Charter,iv and today we want to update you on how we have lived up to our commitments. -  Between January and August, the ACPR’s Fintech-Innovation Unit  received 107 contact requests from new project initiators. In 90% of cases, a first response was given within two weeks, with an average response time of six days.