The head of the Central Bank of Sweden Stefan Ingves said that the “important event” in the form of the launch of the Libra project pushed the country to reform the economy – in particular, a digital crown can be issued in Sweden during the year.
Ingves said :
"It was an incredibly important event … Libra appeared unexpectedly, and it made us think about what we are doing."
Another reason for the launch of the electronic crown, Ingves called a sharp reduction in the use of cash in Sweden. Many stores in the country do not accept physical bills and coins, and some retailers even post signs that customers cannot be paid in cash.
In 2016, a number of national banks, in particular SEB, Swedbank, and Nordea, the largest in the country, together with the ruling Social Democratic Party, proposed to completely withdraw cash denominated in Swedish crowns from circulation and switch to exclusively non-cash payments in this currency. According to their plan, by 2030 Sweden should become the first company in the world of cashless payments.
Messages about the possible issue of the “electronic crown” appeared at the end of 2016. The regulator said that the new financial instrument will allow citizens to pay for goods and services, and in the future will become the dominant means of payment in the country.
Now experts from the Central Bank should work out the issues of legal regulation of transactions with E-krona so that this asset can be used on equal terms with fiat krona.
According to the plans, citizens will store tokens in their bank accounts, to which the cards are attached. It will be possible to manage funds through the mobile application. The e-crown project is supported by most representatives of the banking sector and business.
Sweden is not alone in its desire to launch a national digital currency . After Facebook introduced the Libra project, several countries announced similar developments at once. In August this year, the Central Bank of China announced that it was close to launching its own digital currency. Last week, the Swiss National Bank said it was exploring the possibility of using virtual money in trade.
Publication date 10/16/2019
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