A European Central Bank executive board member has welcomed discussions about the potential of blockchain in an address at the Sibos conference in Singapore, although he added it is still too early to separate the reality from the hype around the technology.

Yves Mersch told delegates during an October 13 session at the Sibos conference: "I welcome any discussion that goes into the direction of making our economy more efficient and faster working. I am not sure whether all the developments that I read about blockchain technology are theoretical potential developments and to what extent they belong more to the realm of hype."