Share this article
World's Oldest Central Bank Extends Digital Currency Test Till 2022
Sweden's Riksbank said it would continue work with Accenture on a potential e-krona digital currency until next year.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:12 p.m. Published Feb 17, 2021, 10:12 a.m.
The world's oldest central bank, Sweden's Riksbank, is to extend its pilot project for a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC) for another 12 months.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
According to a press release on Friday, the project, which is being carried out with assistance from professional services firm Accenture, will run until February 2022.
The Riksbank said it would continue developing a technical solution for a central bank-issued e-krona "as a complement to cash," with the primary objective being for the bank to increase its knowledge around the technology.
For 2021, the institution will continue developing its potential digital currency offering with a focus on performance and scalability. Testing offline functions and bringing external participants into the test environment is also on the table.
The project has raised some concerns from Sweden's commercial banking sector over the viability of a sovereign CBDC and how that would impact the entire banking system.
See also: Sweden Considering Whether to Switch to the E-Krona: Report
There is no final decision over the issuance of the e-krona despite strong lobbying from the central bank to government last year. But with traditional cash seeing falling use, even more so during the coronavirus pandemic, Sweden has been mulling a switch to the CBDC.
However, questions still remain over the digital currency's ultimate design and underlying technology, according to Friday's release.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin Treads Water Near $90K as Bitfinex Warns of 'Fragile Setup' to Shocks
BTC's relative weakness compared to stocks points to tepid spot demand, making the largest crypto vulnerable to macro volatility, Bitfinex analysts said.
What to know:
- Bitcoin erased very modest overnight gains early Monday and spent the rest of the U.S. session in a tight range around the $90,000 level.
- Rising long bond yields and a small U.S. equities pulling back weighed on risk appetite as traders eye this week's Federal Reserve meeting.
- Bitfinex analysts pointed out bitcoin's relative weakness against U.S. stocks amid modest spot demand and structural softness.
Top Stories
