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Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

reuters.com

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Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#31

Post by acuster »

Kudos to the swedes for working methodically to try to find a way for the central bank to issue digital money. They have been working for a number of years on this and seem to be thinking effectively about all of the issues involved.

One of the reasons that most interest me in this type of digital money comes from its use by the government itself within its various branches. Moving the financial accounts of the government from internal systems to a public blockchain potentially opens up the government accounts to public scrutiny in a way that has not yet been possible. This offers a potential for transparency which matters less, perhaps, in Sweden, than in other governments around the world.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#32

Post by socialdemocrat »

lawn wrote: post #3

> The pilot will run until February 2021 and will use block-chain technology, the Riksbank said. Will it really? Riksbanken can have a central server to resolve any double spends, which is only really a problem in a decentralized network. Once you have a singular authority you can just let them decide, and you'll have no need for an inefficient cryptocurrency. > which is being developed by consulting firm Accenture A…

Problem with a central server for money is that it makes the whole state vulnerable. If everybody use central bank e-currency you can just attack their sever to destroy the flow of all money.

But if it is distributed like real crypto currency, you have to be able to attack and take down hundreds or thousands of severs geographically spread.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#33

Post by socialdemocrat »

kragen wrote: post #4

This headline is goofy. Central banks have been using digital electronic currencies for decades. The difference is that now they want to include all Swedes in the electronic currency system, not just Swedish banks, as they have been for decades. (And the claim that this uses "blockchain technology" is just a lie; it's a centralized database. It's no more a blockchain than Git is.) I think this is a terrible idea give…

Most of your money is already on a centralized architecture of you are using a bank. But I agree that a decentralized system would be preferable.

However I can see a benefit in electronic money becoming a public utility rather than being controlled by private companies trying to extract rent.

Visa and MasterCard engage in massive rent extraction.

Would have been nicer with some form of robust international system for money transfer and exchange where middle men could not nickel and dime you the whole way.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#36

Post by pjc50 »

bitxbit wrote: post #20

All these banks and financial institutions launching digital currencies miss the whole point: FRICTIONLESS transactions. Right now you have layers upon layers of network companies nickle and diming you. This is literally someone taking a penny from everyone’s account except it is a lot more than that. There’s absolutely no reason for Mastercard and Visa to even exist in 2020. They’re sitting on top of some obsolete i…

The issuing banks provide credit and insurance, and quite a lot of effort in the system goes to anti-fraud. Especially for online payments.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#38

Post by tadfisher »

rabuse wrote: post #7
lawn wrote: post #3

> The pilot will run until February 2021 and will use block-chain technology, the Riksbank said. Will it really? Riksbanken can have a central server to resolve any double spends, which is only really a problem in a decentralized network. Once you have a singular authority you can just let them decide, and you'll have no need for an inefficient cryptocurrency. > which is being developed by consulting firm Accenture A…

It's buzzwords being thrown around again. Blockchain is highly inefficient for anything other than decentralized consensus.

Blockchains are highly inefficient for decentralized consensus as well.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#39

Post by darawk »

dandanua wrote: post #30
acuster wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

External Auditing. I can't audit the central bank's server but I can audit the publicly published blockchain.

This can be solved by making all ordinary transactions public. Blockchain is not needed in 100% of the cases when central authority is in place.

There is a difference between deciding all transactions will be published and making them public by design constraint. Blockchains make transactions public by design, and this design cannot be easily subverted by the people running it.

Re: Sweden’s central bank says it has begun testing an e-krona

#40

Post by darawk »

tadfisher wrote: post #38
rabuse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's buzzwords being thrown around again. Blockchain is highly inefficient for anything other than decentralized consensus.

Blockchains are highly inefficient for decentralized consensus as well.

But they are the most efficient known solution to the problem. Efficiency is relative.
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