Swedish Central Bank Completes Second Phase Testing of E-Krona

The Swedish Central Bank said that it has completed the second phase of the electronic check test and is ready to integrate it into the banking network.

The e-krona aims to simulate everyday banking activities, including payments, deposits, and withdrawals from a digital wallet on a mobile phone.

Sweden's Sveriges Riksbank announced that it had started testing an e-krona, taking one step closer to the release of a central bank digital currency in February 2021.

The central bank report shows that e-krona does make their customers exchange the money in the bank account for e-krona and is used online and offline transactions.

This phase of the test surveyed the legal clearness of e-krona, and whether it should be considered "electronic form in cash." The conclusion is that it can be seen as an electronic form of cash.

As the project enters the third phase, Riksbank will investigate whether to issue e-krona or it may conduct an investigation based on what technical solutions or legal frameworks

Riksbank, along with the central banks from the Eurozone, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, England, and the Bank of International Settlements, had formed a working group to share experiences on use cases on central bank digital currencies. 

Last month, to delve deeper into the opportunities, risks, trade-offs, and potential technical challenges faced when developing a CBDC system, the Bank of England has joined hands Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a year-long research project.

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