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Sweden's government will start exploring the feasibility of having the country move to a digital currency. The country expects the review to be completed by the end of November 2022.  Sweden is among the first countries in the world to consider introducing a digital currency, where it's central bank already runs a pilot project to introduce an electronica krona based on blockchain technology. 

Before everyone starts circlejerking all over how great this is for bitcoin, you should recognize that such a system would be a competitor to bitcoin, not necessarily enhancing bitcoin value. It's built on the promise of digital currencies and blockchain generally, not bitcoin specifically, though bitcoin has demonstrated the use-case invariably.  I don't know that it would bring any tangible benefit to bitcoin specifically, but I think it would bring further legitimacy to digital currencies as a whole, of which bitcoin could potentially be a beneficiary in some capacity, though how much specifically would be hard to gauge.

Source:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-11/sweden-explores-the-feasibility-of-moving-to-a-digital-currency

So such situations should not increase the price of "classic" cryptocurrencies in principle. After all, States do not create their own analogues of BTC or ETH, but they move from one process of money turnover to another.
When you stopped using cash because you carry a card with you everywhere , it definitely doesn't mean that you started using some completely different money, you just started using a different exchange process.
I also do not think that digital state currencies will compete with cryptocurrencies simply because there are completely different areas of application and the principle of distribution and control. A complete transfer from cash is more good than bad, if only because it is convenient. But you can’t say that digital currencies will somehow directly affect cryptocurrencies

I think one difference is that certainly the control aspect.  Sweden's blockchain-backed digital currency would still be centrally controlled, vs. bitcoin's decentralized system.  I think the pluses and benefits of that are well-known and so I won't belabor them now again.  Another aspect to consider here, as you allude to, is that modern western economies are already largely digital.  We've had electronic payments in some form for decades already, and they are not the predominant means of commerce in these economies.  Would a blockchain-based system represent an improvement over the current digital system we already have given that both systems would still be centrally-controlled?  I have my doubts about that, but perhaps that is part of the study Sweden is pursing for the next year will look at.

It sounds like they do not want to deviate from fiat currency altogether. This is not a competitor because they are just using their fiat currency in digital form, this is good for their economy as this prevents printing more paper money and driving down the cost of printing in a mint. This is a dangerous endeavor though because there will be a lot of attacks that will target their digital banks and that can be a serious threat, hopefully they will address that problem because as technology advances the attacks are also advancing. My only question here is, if they are going for digital then that means the purpose of banks will cease to exist because the money will go directly to the people, then what will happen to this banks and will they adapt or die?

Sweden hasn't confirmed anything since you mentioned that they are simply testing the possibility. Many other countries like China etc have revealed that they are doing the same(Digital Yen etc).

Even if these centralized currencies are actually developed, they won't be a major threat to BTC and other popular cryptocurrencies in my opinion.

Why? Because they are basically FIAT currencies in digital form while BTC and other popular cryptocurrencies still stay decentralized in comparison. This could actually help BTC improve its value even further.

They still use fiat but in digital form, such currencies will still print or burn their supply to make the price 1:1. It's just like a stable coins, but more worse since government have full control of the currencies.

I'd say they will adapt, banks will become an exchanges between fiat cash and fiat digital. Until all the citizens fully start using fiat money in digital form, I can't know what will happen with banks. It can be customer support and service with their online wallet or die since they're useless.

This is good news for the bitcoin, crypto and blockchain community. This is a project that has been idealizing since 2019. Sweden, considered one of the largest economies in the world, begins to test cashless with its own e-currency.
It is only a pilot test that we hope to be very successful because it is innovation and it is what we are waiting to see how Blockchain technology works when it is used in all sectors of society.

Blockchain really is a breakthrough of this decade. So many governments and corporations implementing it within their system. Can't wait to see how blockchain grows in the next few years considering in a decade it's already impactful in effort to disrupt our traditional economy.
Whether it's just for testing, they atleast spend time digging through the benefit of blockchain better than nothing I guess. Moreover, these government just gonna create stablecoin-like digital currency which I assume will not be harmful for those decentralized coins.

Sweden is not the only one and this will be the trend that is going to happen countries are going to use their digital cash, a digital cash that they can control, they are not likely to use Bitcoin because they cannot control it and just prefer to use their own and although you are right that t will be Bitcoin's competitor in some way but it will always validate that Cryptocurrency is here to stay and Bitcoin is it's main product.

These Scandinavian countries with their public amenities and the target of low corruption always sound like the best places to live in. Considering the relatively benevolent nature of the governments there, the main reason for them to move to a blockchain based currency may be the transparency and ease of movement/ usage.
Countries like Sweden spend a lot in public amenities and if those expenses are on a blockchain, the possibility of inefficiency and corruption will become lower still. I wish more governments around the world could take care of people the same way.

Sweden could have the largest population of microchipped consumers in the world. Which could make them uniquely suited as a testbed for emerging digital currencies.


A central bank or government issuing digital currencies carries a potential to minimize advantages offered by crypto & blockchain. Banks and governments trend towards focusing on short term value. Which negates the emphasis on building long term value, stability and HODL which bitcoin has become known for.

The best development banks and governments could hope for is an independent currency to compete against currencies they issue. In order to produce market competition and an impetus towards stability, value and innovation which over the long term would benefit everyone.

Sweden is a good model they have a well-placed system that can make implementing digital currency much easier, they could become a good model for those who like to launch a digital currency but like OP said it will become a direct competitor of Bitcoin but it will also promote Cryptocurrency usage.

I did not knew of this, I can understand why people could insert some form of technology in their bodies in order to survive or to improve their health and quality of life significantly but choosing to do so over such marginal gains is something I cannot understand.

It is because of developments like those that we need bitcoin, people are willing to exchange their freedom and privacy for the dumbest things, and I have no doubt that they will elect to use those centralized coins without asking a single question giving governments the power to then change the currency as they see fit and benefit enormously out of it.

Exactly. In a world where you can have NFC rings, i.e. probably same/similar tech without getting it inserted inside your body, what this people are doing is clearly an exaggeration.

Now to the topic: Since they already use their money only digitally, this move is an obvious step. For average Joe will most probably nothing change, while the companies will not have to pay fat fees to VISA/Mastercard.
It's about a lot of money that now leaves their country and can remain in there, maybe as some smaller fee the central bank could ask for keeping the system up and running.
And just imagine what power will the government have over the population's money...

I doubt that when banks and governments start issuing their own cryptos, they would be open to any form of competition.

Ideally though, IF the politicians or economists were to suddenly agree that even the lazy central banks should have some "competition", then maybe they would say that stability and innovation are desirable. Yet, the way things work, financial institutions have zero accountability. Things seem to be working fine for the politicians as well as banks currently. People are least concerned about what irresponsible banks does to them in the long term. It is hard to see a future where politicians would be compelled to compete for votes on the basis of a vision of best banking/ currency practices. We have bitcoin but it is also getting subject to government interference and regulation with every passing day.

They were testing this since 2018. It's old news.

I remember that they were conducting research by removing all places where only cash was accepted like old styles of parking meters, subway ticket machines, car washes. All those old coin terminals were changed to card readers which increased the use of electronic payments. It's their first step into a cashless society.

Is it good? I don't think so. It gives the government more control.

I don't view CBDCs as competitors. They are just another form of fiat money, which people will continue piling into risk assets like BTC.

They are mostly irrelevant. There is a chance they could complement cryptocurrency markets (trading on DEXs and exchanges) if they were to run on interoperable blockchains. Not sure how likely that is though.

It's not only the legitimacy.
I was just thinking: there's a good chance they may do development in the direction of making crypto easier to spend. Possibly hardware that'll make crypto as easy to use as today's cards, maybe without the need of scanning QR codes with your phone. It could be good and interesting.

It completely makes sense for them since Eurozone yield curves are deep in the negatives and eventually cash would necessarily need to be phased out in order to remove the implicit 0 nominal lower bound for consumer interest rates. This would allow further monetary easing.

As you said though, this is not necessarily good news for BTC.

I don't get why people get so hyped over this stuff when clearly it'll detract away from decentralisation as a founding principle of cryptos. The more that governments intervene in this field and create their own cryptos, the less attention BTC is likely to get; since even though BTC is still a far better long term store of value, the medium of exchange properties of both are the same.

First of all we do not need bitcoin to grow rapidly and be accepted everywhere around the world in order to be happy about these news. What do you think we are expecting from nations, suddenly make bitcoin their national currency?

The good part is, if nations start to use blockchain technology that would make things a lot better, obviously politicians are as corrupt as it comes in many nations of the world so they will not want blockchain tech, where one nation shares where all the taxes are going, whereas a corrupt nation can't do that so they will postpone this as long as possible. However as long as blockchain technology is utilized in a good way from governments I will be happy about it, I do not need bitcoin to be super high thanks to nations, I just want crypto to get more love.

Are those countries that have implemented digital payments are not considered to be the first countries that have adopted to have their digital currency. They have digital transactions and moved it there, that's just my question and one country that has adopted digital transaction is China.
They're one of the first to adopt the payment transactions held in digital. And I don't see this as a competitor for bitcoin. The payment processors or digital currencies from the government can't be compared to bitcoin nor said as a competitor because bitcoin is going far from it as a digital currency that's based in fiat or local currency.

Sounds like another Swedish experiment. In general, they love to experiment with the population. But in general, I think this will be a good experience and new knowledge, on the basis of which one can draw appropriate conclusions about the use of cryptocurrencies by the population. Again, I repeat, everything is heading towards the popularization of cryptocurrencies, there is no getting away from this. The price of cryptocurrencies will rise, and the cryptocurrencies themselves will be used in many areas of our daily life.

Because price. If blockchains get hyped (and especially if CBDCs become interoperable with liquid cryptocurrencies) there is obviously going to be some spill over into decentralized coins. Everybody knows fiat money (CBDC) is not an investment. Bitcoin and altcoins, quite the opposite.


Bitcoin has the potential to be much more universally used than most fiat currencies.

Global reserve? That's a long shot. But there is lots of middle ground in between here and there.

True, and I guess that price will be affected whether we like it or not - and whether markets are rational or not, in terms of their excitement.

I don't necessarily agree with your statement that everyone knows that CBDCs are an investment, though. A lot of people saw Petro as an investment opportunity and got absolutely ripped off.

Whilst Sweden and other developed countries are likely to release a pure currency, a lot of smaller economies can and probably will issue more shady tokens that represent a stake in resources and/or the economy that has a promise of yield, in order to attract FPIs.

It is a very good decision of the people of Sweden to digital currency. Towards crypto their country will prosper and people will improve towards the use of crypto currency. This digital currency features similar features but it also allows for instant transactions and borderless transfer of ownership of virtual currency and cryptocurrency. Even the central bank issues digital currency to improve them. The look of the future technology and the new digital technology will be merged in this way.

And what's wrong with it if there is a project that could be a competitor for bitcoin? I even think that it's great, competitiveness is great and we shouldn't just stick with bitcoin. If there is something "better", why to stick with "good"? And if there is something "the best", then why to stick with "better"? Nothing to say about "good".
But in this case I wouldn't say that their currency is "better" and bitcoin is "good". I am against any currency that's created and owned by the government, it makes no sense for me. It's just a cryptographic form of their fiat but is far from bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies, where the currency is decentralized and everyone is their own bank.

The Nordic countries in general are fond of social and economic experiments.  I thought Sweden also tried universal basic income, but it turns out it was their neighbor Finland.  Even though they didn't expand it after a two year pilot program, at least they're trying innovative things that have the potential to make a difference.  In the United States, you couldn't get a program like this even on a trial basis to study the effects because republicans would foam at the mouth and soil themselves with rage because something something socialism.

Who invested in the Petro? :D

Everyone was terrified to touch it because of the implications of US sanctions violations. As I remember it, none of the Petro's issuance could be verified as external investment. It was essentially a fake news event put on by the Venezuelan government.

Plus it wasn't a CBDC. It was a token pegged to oil production, which lends itself more so to investment than a fiat currency.

It should be admitted that the monetary system has fallen into decay and a new system awaits us. Cryptocurrency may well become its basis in the future, but one should not hope that the same BTC will be a type of standard for all cryptocurrencies, in this case I mean state cryptocurrencies. By itself, BTC can be a crypto asset on an equal footing, for example, with gold, but state-owned cryptocurrencies will certainly be in priority. And here the main role is played by the blockchain technology itself, which has a number of advantages, both for storing information, and for distribution and accounting. Many countries are already working on creating their own cryptocurrency, which means sooner or later we will see the recognition of cryptocurrencies at the state level all over the world.

I'm not a bitcoin homer myself, but I think people like us are in the vast minority on these message boards.  I'm interested in the technology, I'm not interested in having cryptocurrency overthrow the world order and become extremely valuable because fiat has collapsed and brought about the predictable social, political, and economic unrest that would invariably accompany it.  However, most people on this board only care about getting "rich" off crypto no matter what that entails, and god save your soul if you have a legitimate criticism of anything crypto.  A lot of the maximalists here really can't handle anything other than total agreement with their desire to have crypto overthrow fiat.

The Swedish government has been on talk about moving total digital payment and i thought they will be the first country to create digital currency then before the Chinese government but they seem not to be serious about the issue. However, I think the movement and awareness cryptocurrency gain now make them to believe in the future of digital currency.
With that been said, the currency they are planning to create won't be a competitor to Bitcoin.

Definitely, not a competitor of bitcoin because it is centralized.
Anyway, I believe that if this will push thru, this will also pave the way for their people to look into bitcoin.
Since they will be having digital currency, why not take a look at cryptocurrencies?
And if they will educate themselves, they will know the benefits of using btc and other alts as compared to centralized coin.
So for me, in some way, it may drive crypto adoption as well.

Appreciating the effort of mentioning this but you should have made this the first phrase...or maybe the title :))


This is good for bitcoin! Actually, everything is good for bitcoin, the sunset, the sunrise, the waves, the dogs barking, an undersea tunnel in Feroe being completed, everything is good for ..making two lines without reading more than one.  And Sweden is not one of the "largest" economies by far, ranked 23 and 1/8 that of Germany.


And you think an open ledger would change this?
You can always ask and you can always find out how much a mayor or a council has paid for x and y around here, that doesn't change one thing, corruption is not about hiding expenses or running with suitcases full of money, it has evolved in contracts, overpriced stuff, and of course the always amazing lobby.
Just because you are going to know where the money is going doesn't mean you can decide it was spent good or bad, a simple database won't bring down corruption, they will find a hundred ways of avoiding this if needed.


Competition is good in an open economy, competition when one of the parties holds the legislative and executive power in that country it's no competition, it will just be a bloodless fight. If any government sees bitcoin as completion it will not make a better bitcoin, it will outlaw it, and with CDBCs, everything will go way smoother. When you let an authority choose what's better most of the time is the worse of the two for everybody.

Let me tell you this expensive truth brah, the government have look into cryptocurrency and blockchain ever since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised and also told them digital currency is the way to prevent inflation, increase employment and sustainable economic growth but they just dont like decentralization of cryptocurrency.

It may and may not if the government that did not support cryptocurrency don't implement crypto restrictions rules to their citizens just like the Chinese government.

That's nice to hear such news like a certain country who manage to look at cryptocurrency as a potential to be used as a digital currency. Well a lot of good things happened in cryptocurrency this 2020 let's hope that this will continue next year.

This is bound to happen, surely someone somewhere will see a potential on cryptocurrency and will do their best to emulate its success. Now the thing here is it may nlt hugely affect bitcoin and other preexisting cryptocurrency on the market, especially the decentralized ones. Because of course, they do not have anything to do with these since their reach is worldwide. cryptocurrency industry that is, draw a line of distinction. Good news for Sweden might not mean good news immediately for cryptocurrency, and they are just running a feasibility test, they're trying to check its viability, if all goes well, then we got ourselves a new centralized cryptocurrency first of its kind to be regulated by a gpvernment. If it fails then it's a step towards the future of money.

I guess the year does not only bring bad news and crisis. Look at how the market shocks us with the price of bitcoin as of now, reaching its all-time high value. And this news is indeed a good one. I hope that every country will now acknowledge the nature and the use of bitcoin. Maybe as of now, they can see that bitcoin is not a scam, its a person or project that scams people, that is why before investing or doing what you do to earn money is that you need to be well-informed about everything first, there are things that you need to consider before doing that.

Of course, an economically successful nation would try it out first because they do have a small drop that they could handle if things go bad, I was expecting it from Germany though, they are known to be both amazingly good at economics plus they are incredible at technology as well, combine that two together and they would have done some amazing digital currency that could be used everywhere, I am not sure how long it will take but I am sure eventually they will go there as well.

Hopefully many more nations like Sweden, Germany, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Netherlands and so forth will join this type of deal because the more nations that does this the more smaller and worse economy nations will follow them up as well in order to take advantage of the crypto world.

Everything you said is true, mentioned nations are successful economically, socially… and like it's happened in the past, these countries will be the first when it comes to adopting new technologies! Of course all others will follow, eventually, like it always happen! Some will be faster, some will be slow, but it will spread...
Except moving to digital currencies, switching to electric vehicles is also one of the big changes around! Countries are trying to reduce their carbon emissions and help tackle climate changes! And again we have Netherlands, Norway and Sweden on the top of the list!
I think it will take time for the entire world to embrace digital payments and electric cars, but that will happen!

Smart nations will realize that going digital will help them a lot, smarter nations will realize blockchain is the way to go there and nothing else. I understand that you could move to digital currency without using blockchain and that will be just server backed thing, but I think that is not the smartest way to do it, when you use blockchain instead you are getting so much more and you are also getting your nation to another step in technological evolution as well.

Sweden is a smart nation, they will find the best way to do this and they will definitely check out blockchain as a government as well, this is one of the nations with best healthcare and happiest people in the world, I doubt that there could be anything that would specifically ruin their economy just because they are looking into this.

With the news that Sweden will soon move and issue its digital money. Then this will be a big influence in the advancement of crypto. And the crypto price could be even higher. In fact, there will be many new projects to follow this Sweden. And maybe it will soon be followed by other countries.

No, of course not. It's just heartening to see a country attempt new things to spur innovation.  It's one thing for a country to take a hands-off approach and let innovation kind of run, but it's another to try and help it along to see if there's an economic benefit to be had.

In practice, this is no longer news. More than 80 percent of all states are currently exploring or trying to switch to their national stablecoin. In the near future, virtually all states will have their own central bank stablecoins.
Most governments have already stated that using blockchain technology in non-cash payments is much more efficient and profitable.

Sweden seems to be considering the possibilities of moving to a digital currency. The government, even back in 2018, was the most used-country in terms of cryptocurrency, according to the gross percentage product. According to Per Bolund, the financial markets minister, a review shall be launched before 2022 comes to an end. Sweden is one of the first countries to assess this idea officially.

Sweden’s central bank has teamed with Accenture for a pilot project as they work on discovering an electronic krona under blockchain technology. Krona shall be taken on a political rank as asserted by Governor Stefan. Mr Bolund asserted,  "it's crucial that the digitalised payments market functions safely, and that it's available to everybody.”
Sweden’s usage of cash has declined to a historically low statistics amidst the pandemic, as physical entities have begun to endanger lives. Bank in Sweden has reported that cash payments have dropped to lower than 10%.

It'll because non of the new so called digital currency (developed by countries or in development) will have the features posses by bitcoin, her finite supply, decentralized mode of operation etc. The new currency would obviously been in a form of stablecoin that's fix to their local currency, precious metals or US dollars. Also there would hardly be any profit to be made from holding those currency instead it'll mainly be used for purchasing of goods and services and other necessity.

One of the reasons bitcoin is attractive both to the sophisticated investors and everyday individual, is her potential of giving you outrageous gains in the shortest time possible. Her volatile statue is her strength, the government backed digital currency won't be having that therefore bitcoin will still be having a strong advantage over any government backed currency. The competition could be won by them when utilities is been debated on but for the assest aspect, that bitcoin still holds.

So meaning Sweden is Making the right thing now and Starting to adopt from the European Union ?

They have done this for long years Because if the world is ready using Online payment before the pandemic happens ? we are sure that Europe and US might now experience
that too much infections.
European countries needs this start up, if sweden took the risk and succeed then at all chances the nearing countries will surely convert on to this as well.

To my mind, Sweden electronic krona based on blockchain technology will be just a digital currency implemented and controlled by Sweden national bank. Sure it might be very popular in Sweden, but it won’t make any competition to Bitcoin or somehow influence on Bitcoins price.

Yes, it would be great for crypto, for blockchain and IT technology.  While it won't be connected to BTC and alts directly, it will help them indirectly. Because, btc have biggest popularity when it come to digital currency and it will stay that way.