Sveriges riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, announced that it will be extending its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project named e-krona to the end of February 2022.
Riksbank conducted the pilot project in partnership with Accenture, to develop a proposal for a technical solution for an e-krona that can work as a complement to cash without completely replacing cash transactions.
The main aim of the pilot is for the Riksbank to increase its knowledge of a central bank-issued digital krona.
Riksbank said that the “pilot is to create, in an isolated test environment, a digital krona that is simple and user-friendly and, at the same time, complies with critical requirements for security and performance”.
In the test environment, users should be able to store the e-krona digital currency in an e-wallet.
From this digital wallet, Riksbank thinks it will be possible via a mobile app to make deposits and transfers as well as make and receive payments. The user shall also be able to make payments via wearables, such as smart watches, and cards.
Riksbank will continue developing the technical solution, with the focus on performance, scalability, testing of offline functions and bringing external participants into the test environment.
There is currently no decision on issuing an e-krona, how an e-krona might be designed or what technology might be used.
Featured image credit: Photo by Mikael Winterkvist from Pexels
