Sweden’s central bank has completed the first phase of the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC) program experiments and published the results of the research, the preliminary conclusion is that if cash disappears too quickly, it will bring difficult to solve the “potential problem”, so may need to slow down the pace of the central bank’s digital currency program.
Sweden’s central bank has hinted that it will launch the “electronic krona” (E-Krona) before 2018, but the schedule has been repeatedly delayed, and now the Riksbank says that the ongoing experimental program will have to wait until early next year to complete, and even does not rule out the experiment until the end of 2026.
The Swedish central bank’s digital currency experimental program head Sandberg said, before clarifying the conditions required for digital currency, should not take the risk of finalizing the case.
The Swedish central bank also clearly pointed out that the current will not replace cash with digital currency, as for the digital currency plan being studied, if you continue to implement the final decision to launch, but also in the new legal structure, can be implemented.
Sweden’s central bank said on the 6th, the next stage of this plan, is to allow commercial banks to join, in order to test the “electronic krona” in the actual processing of commercial and retail payments.
This can be said to be the most in-depth exploration of the post-cash era in the major Western economies a study.
Sweden’s banknotes and coins are continuing to retire at a slow pace; research firm McKinsey reports that of the eight “mature” markets, the Swedish population used the least amount of cash last year (the smallest ratio of cash to total transactions).
However, central banks in other countries have publicly stated that it may not be beneficial to be the first to enter the field of digital money; the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (Fed) Chairman Bao recently said that the U.S. position on digital money is to “do the right thing” rather than “be the first”.
In addition, some countries also believe that even if they move into a “cashless society”, it does not necessarily mean that they need to implement digital money.
Norway is another country that is close to a cashless society, but the country’s central bank said there is no “urgent need” to launch a digital currency.
Bloomberg economist Anson Yeager said, “The motivation for implementing a central bank’s digital currency may change as policymaking officials discuss it; if it is only used to supplement the retail transaction function that cash lacks, it will not have much of a role in the economy.”
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