Global finance is in the middle of a radical transformation fueled by innovative financial
technologies. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of retail financial
services in Europe. Institutional interest and digital asset markets are also growing blurring
the boundaries between the token economy and traditional finance. Blockchain AI quantum
computing and decentralised finance (DeFI) are setting the stage for a global battle of
business models and philosophies. The post-Brexit EU cannot afford to ignore the promise of
digital finance. But the Union is struggling to keep pace with global innovation hubs
particularly when it comes to experimenting with new digital forms of capital raising.
Calibrating the EU digital finance strategy is a balancing act that requires a deep
understanding of the factors driving the transformation be they legal cultural political or
economic as well as their many implications. The same FinTech inventions that use AI machine
learning and big data to facilitate access to credit may also establish invisible barriers that
further social racial and religious exclusion. The way digital finance actors source use and
record information presents countless consumer protection concerns. The EU's strategic response
has been years in the making and finally in September 2020 the Commission released a Digital
Finance Package. This special issue collects contributions from leading scholars who scrutinize
the challenges digital finance presents for the EU internal market and financial market
regulation from multiple public policy perspectives. Author contributions adopt a critical yet
constructive and solutions-oriented approach. They aim to provide policy-relevant research and
ideas shedding light on the complexities of the digital finance promise. They also offer solid
proposals for reform of EU financial services law.
