海外之声丨法国央行行长：分布式账本技术时代央行应推动监管创新

导读

分布式账本技术（DLT）自十五年前诞生以来，带来了诸多新可能，实现了去中介化，创造了新的解决方案和应用场景。DLT正在蓬勃发展，并将带来深远变化。

DLT产生的初代加密资产是比特币，而比特币在2008年问世之初，很少充当支付货币，只用于投机。比特币最具颠覆性的特点在于其底层技术，如今为各类资产和用途提供支持。

二代加密资产中嵌入了智能合约，催生了新服务和产品，如NFTs（不可伪造代币）。这些资产试图通过与法定货币和主权资产挂钩，以减少波动性。这一做法有史可循。18和19世纪的私人银行为降低自主发行的纸币的风险，引入央行货币作为共同的安全结算资产。这已成为符合各方最大利益的规则和公共产品，在发达经济体尤为常见。

加密货币能够带来创新，满足需求，但也有重大潜在风险，易引发洗钱、侵犯数据隐私和高波动性。针对这一问题，央行作为金融创新的前沿，应当充分利用DLT，进行监管创新。

首先，央行应当规范和监督新资产的发行、估值、交易、结算，以及为其提供托管和相关服务的参与者。去中心化会导致部分个人参与者不受监管约束，所以应当采取健全的监管原则：建立规则，管理风险，明确责任，保障安全。此外，监管体系在不同地区要具有一致性。

其次，央行应继续积极参与创新。部分央行已经推出数字货币或展开试点。对于公众关注的央行数字货币（CBDC），央行应当对个人CBDC持有量设置上限。除零售外，央行还可以推出CBDC批发项目。DLT可以大幅提升央行货币数字化的效益，在跨境交易中提高银行间流程效率，发展新业务，通过CBDC促进去中心化金融的成功与可持续发展。法国央行在2021年成功进行了9项实验，2022年将重点围绕跨境支付进行新实验。BIS创新中心正在推进CBDC批发项目，受到了来自法国和亚洲的众多央行关注。

作者丨弗朗索瓦·维勒鲁瓦·德加洛，法国央行行长

Central banks in a distributed-ledger technologies world

Speech (virtual) by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the Bank for International Settlement's Innovation Summit, 22 March 2022.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour to give this opening speech of the second BIS Innovation Summit, which illustrates central banks' commitment in new technologies, notably through the BIS Innovation Hub. Since their creation almost fifteen years ago, distributed-ledger technologies (DLTs) have evolved and opened up new possibilities, building alternative circuits and removing intermediaries, supporting new solutions and use cases. Are these disruptions as powerful as those brought by the invention of internet three decades ago? It may be too early to tell, but DLTs are expanding at a fast pace, and have the potential to bring about far-reaching changes.

The invention of bitcoin, the first crypto-asset, stemmed from the desire to build a new "currency" – I emphasise the quotation marks here –, outside the remit of states and central banks. That was back in 2008, and what we have observed since then is that the use of bitcoin as a means of payment remains very marginal, because it does not feature any of the fundamental characteristics of currency. Nor is it a store of value, but rather a speculative asset, somewhat similar to the Dutch tulip bulbs from the 17th century.  

The most disruptive feature of bitcoin was its underlying technology, which has since then been offered in different versions of DLT underlying various types of assets and uses. Second-generation crypto-assets now embed smart contracts that have led to the development of new services and products, the last being NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Among second generation crypto-assets, so-called stablecoins or backed-assets try to reduce their volatility by anchoring themselves to fiat currencies and sovereign assets. Still, they create fragmentation, and are fraught with regulatory and operational uncertainties.

Here too there are historical precedents: free banking in the 18th and 19th centuries, when each private bank issued its own banknotes. It had major drawbacks, such as credit risk embedded in settlement assets. The introduction of central bank money as a common and safe settlement asset was a major breakthrough and since then has become the rule – in the best interest of all economic agents. It is now a public good, and taken for granted at least in advanced economies.

We, central bankers, have mixed feelings towards crypto-assets: on the one hand, they bring innovation and meet some expectations, especially in emerging economies; on the other hand, they carry significant potential risks, related to money laundering, breach of data privacy and high volatility among others. Although our mandates fully enshrine stability, resisting innovation is not in our DNA, on the contrary. Financial stability without innovation would mean conservatism; innovation without financial stability would feed distrust, and hence be unsustainable. Notwithstanding our sometimes old-fashioned image, we have been at the forefront of financial innovation for decades. Our achievements however often remain unknown to the public: our state-of-the art settlement systems are aimed at banks, not end-users. How can we find our rightful place in this emerging DLT world? Benign neglect, or on the contrary prohibition, are no longer options. While keeping our eyes and minds open, we have to at once regulate and innovate.

First, regulate and supervise all players that issue, value, deal, settle, offer custody and related services regarding these new assets. The initial bitcoin ideology of a full disintermediation – or even disembodiment – turned out unsuited to real life: most users do not directly intervene on the blockchain, they use platforms and new intermediaries. "Decentralised finance" could be a misnomer while leading to concentration of some private players that are not regulated for the time being. The sound supervisory principle "same activity, same risks, same rules" should apply and be expressed as a "square of guarantees": (1) equal security; (2) equal compliance; (3) equal responsibility; and (4) equal accessibility. Regulation has to be built consistently across jurisdictions, and is especially important as links between the real world and the crypto world are growing stronger. Against this backdrop, and in accordance with the G20 agenda that was initiated two years ago, most jurisdictions are considering legislative changes to deal with crypto-assets. For instance, the European Union must adopt shortly a regulation called Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). It is essential that we all ensure that there is a real-time and ambitious approach across the globe.

Second, central banks shall continue to be active players in innovation. A few have already launched digital currencies, some – including the Eurosystem – are testing it in pilot experiments. We at the ECB decided a two-year investigation phase under the leadership of my colleague Fabio Panetta, before taking a decision about whether to go further by the end of 2023. Retail CBDCs have caught the attention of the public; however, they raise sensitive questions, especially regarding the use cases for households and the role of commercial banks. That is why I would call for a ceiling of the individual CBDC holdings.  

Let us not forget the other possible digital currency, a "wholesale" CBDC for banking institutions. DLT could bring the benefits of central bank money digitalisation to a new level, with increased efficiency of some interbank processes and the development of new services, especially in a cross-border context. Let me be clear, CBDC is not about the Big Brother of central banks threatening the free world of decentralized finance. Rather it could be about providing further tools to help make Defi successful and sustainable. The Banque de France carried out nine successful experiments in 2021, with a wide array of partners and on different segments, and a new series of experiments focusing on cross-border payments will take place in 2022. It is a great satisfaction to see the BIS Innovation Hub pushing ahead with several wholesale CBDC projects such as Jura and Dunbar, in which the Banque de France is an active participant. And more broadly, it also a satisfaction to see that more and more central banks, notably some from Asia, show an interest for wholesale CBDC.

I will conclude by quoting Zaha Hadid, the Iraq born architect who was the first woman to receive the Pritzker prize in 2004. Her iconic buildings, all swooping curves and flowing space, never featured any right angle. "There are 360 degrees, so why stick to one?" Zaha Hadid used to say. What an inspiring thought for us today. I thank you for your attention.

编译：初芝宏

本文监制：董熙君

来源｜BIS

版面编辑｜刘嘉璐

责任编辑｜李锦璇、蒋旭

总监制｜朱霜霜

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