This article reviews the state of digital currencies and financial technology (FinTech) as of October 2026, drawing mainly on publications and decisions of international standard-setters, regulators and central banks. It separates four instrument classes—unbacked cryptoassets, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised bank money—and examines how three recent milestones are reshaping market structure: the end of the transitional period under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the staged implementation of the United States GENIUS Act, and the European Parliament’s endorsement of its negotiating position on the digital euro. The review finds that a hybrid architecture is emerging, in which regulated private tokens and central bank money are expected to coexist, and that emerging economies face a distinctive trade-off between payment innovation and monetary sovereignty. Uzbekistan, which has opened a som-pegged stablecoin pilot while confining central bank work to a wholesale CBDC, is used as an illustrative case.
Digital Currencies and Fintech
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References
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