Sweden Considering Whether to Switch to the E-Krona: Report
Sweden's central bank has begun to study the feasibility of moving the country to a digital currency.
Dec 11, 2020 at 3:08 p.m. UTCUpdated Aug 19, 2021 at 6:04 a.m. UTC
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Sweden’s government is considering the adoption of a central bank digital currency, the e-krona, according to a Bloomberg report.
- Sweden’s financial markets minister, Per Bolund, said the Riksbank finance committee has launched a review into the prospects of moving the country to a digital currency, a study that will be completed in November 2022, according to the report.
- “It’s crucial that the digitalized payments market functions safely, and that it’s available to everybody ... depending on how a digital currency is designed and which technologies are used, it can have large consequences for the entire financial system,” warned Bolund.
- As reported by CoinDesk in October, Sweden’s central banker Stefan Ingves has been pushing to go all-in on sovereign digital currency and fully adopt the e-krona.
- The Riksbank governor has called on the Swedish Parliament to do the same. Ingves has stressed the decision to issue an e-krona needs to be made at a political level.
- Currently, Sweden’s central bank is running an e-krona pilot project with Accenture Plc using distributed ledger technology.
- The Riksbank reports it has seen Sweden’s cash usage drop to its lowest level ever with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the shift away from traditional money.
- If the plan to become a cashless society goes ahead it would make Sweden one of the first countries in the world to fully adopt a digital currency.
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