Sweden wants to have a digital currency

Stockholm aims to turn on the green light in 2022. Cash payments in the country have fallen below 10% of total

(Photo: Chesnot / Getty Images) Sweden wants to be the first country to abandon money physical for a state cryptocurrency. With the strong input to the development of electronic currencies seen around the world during the Covid-19 emergency, the Nordic country has decided to accelerate the transition towards the adoption of a digital crown based on security protocols on the model of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin , ethereum, ripple, but unlike these, which are inspired by a decentralized model, supported by the state.

This was announced by the Swedish finance minister, Per Bolund, who according to Bloomberg reports, has announced that a preliminary assessment regarding the adoption of electronic money will end in November 2022 and will be conducted by a group of experts coordinated by the parliamentarian Anna KinbergBatra, chairman of the monitoring committee of Riksbank, the Central Bank of Sweden.

It is not surprising that the decision to switch one's payment infrastructure to an electronic money comes from Sweden. Also according to data from the Central Bank, in October the number of transactions carried out in cash in the Nordic country was less than 10%. And this is also confirmed in the long term, given that the use of cash for transactions went from a percentage of 56.3% of total payments in 2001 to 12.8% in 2019, before the explosion. of Covid-19, according to reports from Statista.

Furthermore, Sweden has always been among the pioneers worldwide in the experimentation of a state cryptocurrency supported by the central bank. By the end of 2019, Stockholm had already announced a pilot project for its e-krona (the electronic crown), developing its technology platform in collaboration with the consulting firm Accenture. The Riksbank then launched that project on an experimental basis in February (duration: 12 months).

For his part, however, the governor of the Swedish central bank, Stefan Ingves, in October reiterated the need for every decision on the effective adoption of a cryptocurrency is first approved at the political level, thus also guaranteeing a more articulated monetary policy framework.

But Sweden is not the only one to have accelerated the process of creating and experimenting with a state cryptocurrency in recent times. In October, China kicked off the largest experimentation in the use of its digital yuan, involving over 50 thousand citizens of the city of Shenzhen in a lottery that gave away 10 million electronic yuan (equivalent to 1.5 million dollars). ) to be spent on various commercial activities.

And for its part, the European Central Bank is also working on a digital euro that could join the physical currency to give life to a process of gradual transition towards a constant use greater than virtual payment instruments but still guaranteed by a consolidated regulatory and financial framework.

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Cryptocurrencies Europe Finance Fintech Digital payments globalData.fldTopic = "Cryptocurrencies, Europe, Finance, Fintech, digital payments "

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