The Swedish government is preparing to go digital. The authorities plan to complete studies related to the release of the state cryptocurrency by the end of 2022.
This was stated by the Minister of Finance of Sweden Per Bolund (Per Bolund), adding that by this time the government will provide a detailed report on its research and developments. To date, the authorities are still studying how to safely transfer the country’s payment infrastructure to digital currency.
The initiative will be led by Anna Kinberg Batra, who previously served as Chair of the Finance Committee of the Bank of Sweden (Riksbank). Bolund said that it is extremely important to ensure the availability of the digital payment system for all citizens of Sweden, as well as create conditions for the sustainable functioning of the system.
“Before switching to digital currency, it is necessary to carefully study all the aspects related to it. Any oversight can have serious consequences for the entire financial system, ”the minister said.
The central bank of Sweden announced the e-krona pilot project late last year. To this end, Riksbank began to cooperate with the Irish company Accenture, which provides consulting services. Testing of the digital version of the Swedish krona began in February, which was originally scheduled to run until February 2021.
In October, the chairman of the Bank of Sweden, Stefan Ingves, said that the regulator had not yet made a final decision on issuing its own digital currency, as this requires political support and changes to the country’s legislation. If the digital Swedish krona is issued, it must be recognized as legal tender.
Recall that six months ago, the Bank of Sweden published the results of a study describing four different models of the state cryptocurrency that can be introduced to the local market.
