Author: Rinat Mirzaitov

Artificial intelligence and fast-improving humanoid robots are pushing Europe into a new policy debate, not just about productivity, but about income security and access to essential services. If more work is automated, governments may face pressure to expand universal basic income (UBI) or universal basic services (UBS), and the digital euro could become an important way to distribute public money quickly, securely, and at scale. In the near term, AI adoption is already reshaping labour markets and workplace practices, with EU-level research warning that algorithmic management and AI tools can expand worker exposure to automated decision-making. At the same time,…

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are moving from theory to reality as governments rethink how money should function in an increasingly digital and geopolitically fragmented world. In Europe, this debate has crystallised around the digital euro, a proposed public digital form of cash issued by the European Central Bank. At its core, a CBDC is digital public money, a direct claim on a central bank, designed to complement cash and commercial bank deposits. Unlike cryptocurrencies, CBDCs are issued by the state, anchored to monetary policy and embedded in existing legal frameworks. More than 130 jurisdictions are now exploring or…

The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has proposed a new regulatory framework governing how FDIC-supervised banks can issue payment stablecoins through subsidiaries. The proposal sets out approval requirements under the recently enacted GENIUS Act and signals a more formal federal approach to stablecoin issuance by banks. The notice of proposed rulemaking, published in the Federal Register, focuses on insured state nonmember banks and state savings associations that want to issue payment stablecoins via a dedicated subsidiary. Under the GENIUS Act, such subsidiaries become permitted payment stablecoin issuers once approved by their primary federal regulator, in this case the FDIC. The…

Europe fintech sector is entering a phase of regulated innovation, where AI, instant payments, and digital currencies expand under stricter rules like DORA, PSD3, and MiCA.

Drawing on experience in software engineering, blockchain and government transparency, the author explains how aggregated digital euro data could support better policymaking.