The European Central Bank’s chief economist, Philip R. Lane, is a central figure at the 2026 ECB Forum on Central Banking, running June 29 to July 1 in Sintra, Portugal, which focuses on innovation and digitalization’s effects on monetary policy and financial stability. Lane is scheduled for a June 30 conversation on artificial intelligence with OpenAI chief economist Aaron Chatterji, and on July 1, he chairs a panel on Europe’s evolving trade role. A dedicated July 1 discussion titled “Tokenisation: challenges and opportunities when money, payments and financial transactions become digital” highlights a paper from Bank of Korea Governor Hyun Song Shin on unified ledgers. No specific crypto tokens were mentioned in the forum’s discussions. Lane has recently reiterated that the ECB remains “proactive” in managing inflation risks, noting that second-round effects from earlier price spikes are expected to emerge gradually as energy prices normalize.