Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, is starting a new pilot project to develop a national digital currency. Accenture is the leading partner in the project, and the currency is currently named e-krona. Riksbank wants the e-krona to act as a complement to cash.
Digital currency opportunities for public
Sweden’s central bank wants to show the possibilities and use cases of digital currency to the general public. Sweden’s first national digital currency would be simple and easy to use for the people. Besides. Riksbank considers all the security and performance requirements for a standard digital currency while developing e-krona.
E-krona will be available for first testers so they can store it in a digital wallet and also perform daily actions like payment and withdrawal and deposits using a mobile app. Users can pay with initial e-krona using wearable gadgets and cards.
Riksbank firstly starts a pilot project to test the risks and opportunities of e-krona with testers and merchant locations. The test project will run until the end of February 2021. Technical development will continue afterward to provide solutions for probable challenges. Besides, more development is planned to start and continue after the test phase.
Blockchain as the founding technology
Anyone can assume that all national digital currency projects need a reliable infrastructure to provide security and high performance to the public. Because of the distributed nature and security and privacy features, blockchain is often chosen as the underlying technology for digital currencies as well as for cryptocurrencies.
“The pilot project’s technical solution will be based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), often referred to as blockchain technology,” says Riksbank in a press release.
Riksbank provided a document about the e-krona pilot program. The main focus of the paper is on the technical solution for the project, which has the main characteristics of cryptocurrencies. There will be participants in the e-krona network (banks) that provide the infrastructure. The digital token named e-kronor will be distributed to the public and cannot be copied or forged. Riksbank claims to provide instant, peer-to-peer payment with e-kronor.
Riksbank is currently evaluating the national digital currency project, and there is no specific timeline for issuing e-krona. Other founding and developing technologies and the design process aren’t specified either.
