The Central Bank says it received a "significant number" of enquiries last year via its Innovation Hub from firms in the blockchain, crypto or digital asset sector.
The Innovation Hub was established in 2018 to provide an opportunity for innovators, fintechs and regulated entities to engage with the Central Bank on regulatory and supervisory requirements.
33% of all enquiries received by the hub last year came from the blockchain, crypto or digital asset sector.
The enquiries came from both established regulated entities and early stage start-ups with queries relating to a range of regulatory regimes.
"In particular, there was an increase in the number of enquiries from large, established crypto asset service providers," the Central Bank said in its Innovation Hub 2022 update.
"The trends in 2022 suggest that there is still strong interest from firms to engage with the Innovation Hub, particularly in the areas of payments and crypto," it said.
"Such engagements allow the Central Bank to learn about new technologies and innovations in financial services and develop a deeper understanding of innovations in financial services in Ireland," it added.
The Central Bank will become the supervisory authority for regulating crypto asset service providers and certain types of issuers of crypto assets under a new EU legislative framework known as "Markets in Crypto Asset Regulations" (MiCA).
Overall, the Innovation Hub engaged with 56 firms in 2022, a fall from the 83 enquiries dealt with in 2021.
There was an increase in the number of regulated firms engaging with the hub.
The Central Bank said it also continued to see a strong number of enquiries from firms involved in payment related activities.
"Notably, the reason for engagement from this sector was not always authorisation related, in some cases firms wanted to have broad discussions on the topic of payments," according to the update.
