e-Krona

The e-Krona is Sveriges Riksbank's Central Bank Digital Currency pilot project testing retail CBDC use cases, technical infrastructure, and legal framework requirements as Sweden transitions toward becoming world's first cashless society with physical cash usage declining to less than 10% of transactions.

Sveriges Riksbank initiated e-Krona research in 2017 and launched pilot programs testing distributed ledger technology implementations, offline payment capabilities, integration with existing payment infrastructure, and various access models including account-based and token-based designs. The pilot explores whether CBDC is necessary to maintain public access to central bank money as cash disappears, ensure payment system resilience if private payment platforms fail, provide competitive pressure on private payment providers, and maintain monetary policy effectiveness in fully digital economy.

Key considerations include privacy protection for everyday transactions while maintaining AML compliance, preventing excessive deposits shifting from commercial banks to Riksbank during crises, ensuring elderly and digitally excluded populations retain payment access, interoperability with Nordic payment systems and potential future European CBDC initiatives, and legal clarifications on e-Krona status as legal tender. Sveriges Riksbank has not committed to e-Krona launch, with decisions pending parliamentary approval of legal framework, resolution of commercial bank impact concerns, and assessment of whether private sector solutions adequately address policy objectives. Sweden's e-Krona project influences global CBDC development as first advanced economy confronting complete cash elimination and associated monetary policy implications.