The Riksbank set a two-stage schedule to introduce new banknotes and coins starting in October 2015 and October 2016. While not an e-krona decision, the timetable reflected major work to keep state money usable as payment habits were changing quickly. The cash changeover also highlighted the cost and coordination needed to maintain physical cash in a highly digital payments market.
The Riksbank started the e-krona project to analyze whether Sweden might need a digital complement to cash. A key concern was that cash use was falling, while most digital payment options were provided by private companies and banks. The project’s early work focused on needs analysis, dialogue with stakeholders, and mapping technical and legal questions.
The project’s first interim report set out why a digital krona was being considered and sketched possible designs. It discussed two broad models—account-based and value/token-based—and explored potential effects on monetary policy, financial stability, operations, and law. The report did not propose issuing an e-krona immediately; it framed the questions Sweden would need to answer first.
In a public note accompanying the early work, the Riksbank linked the e-krona discussion to the rapid shift away from cash payments. It argued that a heavily concentrated, privately run digital payments market could create vulnerabilities if disruptions occur. The communication helped move the e-krona from an internal study to a wider policy debate.
The second report concluded that analysis should continue and proposed developing and testing technical solutions. It also emphasized legal clarity, suggesting that legislative changes might be needed to define the Riksbank’s mandate and the e-krona’s legal status. The report tied the investigation directly to the risk that cash might become hard to use if the decline continued.
After early reports, the Riksbank decided to move from concept work to more hands-on testing in a closed environment. The aim was to learn what a digital krona could look like technically and what rules might be needed, without committing to issuing it. This marked a shift from “should we” questions toward “how could it work” experimentation.
The Riksbank entered a practical pilot phase to construct and evaluate a possible technical platform for an e-krona, working with Accenture. The pilot’s purpose was learning: testing design choices, security, and operational questions in a controlled setting. It did not represent a final choice of technology or a decision to issue an e-krona.
Sweden’s government appointed an inquiry to map how the payments market was changing and to analyze the state’s future role. A specific task was to assess the need for the Riksbank to issue a digital currency (an e-krona) and to review what “legal tender” should mean as cash use declines. This step underscored that any future e-krona would require political and legal decisions beyond the central bank’s technical work.
Phase 2 began as the Riksbank extended and expanded pilot testing. The work focused on performance, legal questions, and whether an e-krona could be integrated with banks’ and payment service providers’ existing systems. This phase reflected a practical policy concern: if a digital krona were ever introduced, it would likely need to work through today’s payment actors rather than replace them overnight.
The Phase 1 report summarized what the pilot tested and what was learned about a token-based design using distributed ledger technology (a shared database across approved participants). It noted that the approach created new possibilities but needed more investigation for scale, safety, and features like offline payments. The report also highlighted that the pilot helped clarify where existing laws might not fit a central bank digital currency.
By 2021, Sweden’s e-krona work had reached a clear policy bottleneck: technical tests could inform design choices, but an actual launch would require legal authority and a political decision. Public discussion increasingly focused on whether a cash-light society needed “state money in digital form” to preserve choice, resilience, and trust, or whether existing private payment options were sufficient. This 2012–2021 period closed with ongoing pilots and formal government review, rather than a decision to issue an e-krona.
The Riksbank published a summary of Phase 2 findings, including tests on integration with banks and payment providers. It reported that integration with existing internal bank systems appeared possible, supporting a model where customers could exchange bank money for e-kronor and back. The update also kept the focus on learning and preparedness rather than a final decision to issue.
Sweden's e-krona investigation, pilot experiments and policy debates (2012–2021)