Sweden’s Central Bank Start Testing of Digital Cryptocurrency e-Krona
The central bank of Sweden Sveriges Riksbank starts testing its digital cryptocurrency named e-krona. This move take it closer to become the first country to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The central bank said on 20 Feb that the e-krona is used as an alternative for cash and will be used, deposited and withdrawal simpler via a mobile app.
The central bank said, “The Riksbank is reviewing the possibility of issuing a digital complement to cash, an ‘e-krona’, and whether it could support the Riksbank in the task of promoting a safe and efficient payment system.” The bank further added that e-krona would also “reduce the risk of the krona’s position being weakened by competing for private currency alternatives.”
Giant Accenture is working with Riksbank on the pilot project which aims to show how e-krona will be used by the mass public.
The project is divided into two phases. The first phase of the project is that Riksbank first distributes the digital currency to banks and the second phase of the project is that the banks will distribute the digital currency to the public for use.
The central bank concluded that: “There is currently no decision on issuing a digital currency, how a digital currency might be designed or what technology might be used. The main purpose of the pilot is for the Riksbank to increase its knowledge of a central bank digital krona.”
The Riksbank start researching about e-krona in 2017. In the beginning, the Riksbank said: “An e-krona would have the potential to counteract some of the problems that could arise on the payment market in the future when the use of cash is rapidly declining.”
Sweden’s central bank is not the first to start working on its own digital cryptocurrency. China’s central bank is also working on a digital cryptocurrency that will be used in cross border payments.
