Friday, November 16, 2018

Sweden’s cashless society

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sweden just published an article about Swedish retail payment market. The outstanding value of cash in circulation has dropped to just 1% of Swedish GDP. Market is rapidly moving away from using notes and coins!
   Swedish legislation makes it possible for retailers to refuse to accept cash. At the same time people on average are happy to adapt new technologies for instant payments.
   Undoubtedly it would be a historical change without precedence. The central bank of Sweden is now looking for ruling a new digital currency, called the e-krona. This is happening because after hundreds of years, if cash stops working, it would leave all individuals to rely on the private sector alone to get access to money and payment methods, according to Deputy Governor.
   E-krona is an alternative to issue central bank money in a digital form, as a complement to cash and the money held in bank accounts. The basic concept is that it would be digital, and have a 1-to-1 conversion with an ordinary krona held in an account at the central bank of Sweden or stored locally, for example on a card or in a mobile phone app.
   This digital future of payments is not about cryptocurrencies. It is not about blockchain, or distributed ledger technology. It is just a way of proving certified value in a digital way. Globalization and technology are intimately intertwined. Digital technologies are changing the ways in which firms do business and interact with their customers and suppliers.
Δρ. Κωνσταντίνος Μάντζαρης, Dr. Konstantinos Mantzaris, Economistmk

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