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Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

reuters.com

11–20 of 72 posts

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#11

bitcoin solves nothing, worse it empower the "wanting to become millionaire overnight" syndrome that plagues our society this world is horrible when you look into the details, working and helping other people is not rewarded at all profiting from other people is what best people can do to have a better time on this planet

Yes. I think your comment points out a big issue in our societies. However, note that the article isn't about Bitcoin.

Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) basically operate with a centralized database; no "mining", no pseudo-anonymity, most important, no gambling-like course changes. It represents the "offline money" 1:1, only is it managed centralized rather than federalized by many banks.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#12
post #2

The core argument here genuinely seems to be that private banks don't want to become obsolete. The article spends a lot of time saying this is bad (or saying that they say it's bad), but it's not clear to me why this is (or even if it truly is). I must admit over some skepticism given the extreme loucheness of the banking sector.

What is bad news for banks is bad news for borrowers.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#13
post #2

The core argument here genuinely seems to be that private banks don't want to become obsolete. The article spends a lot of time saying this is bad (or saying that they say it's bad), but it's not clear to me why this is (or even if it truly is). I must admit over some skepticism given the extreme loucheness of the banking sector.

If banks are obsoleted, then how are mortgages supposed to work?

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#15
As a Swedish person I don't see the point at all: Why would I want to use this? I would rather have a decentralized system of various banks and global companies (Mastercard, Visa, etc) track my transactions and spread out that risk, instead of one single state actor. I could also use, you know, cash.

Digital cash is first and foremost an instrument for new ways to do monetary policy, as more countries (like Sweden and EU) are heading towards a Japanese situation. Playing it as a tool for consumers to fight banks is just marketing/storytelling to gain support and adoption.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#16

bitcoin solves nothing, worse it empower the "wanting to become millionaire overnight" syndrome that plagues our society this world is horrible when you look into the details, working and helping other people is not rewarded at all profiting from other people is what best people can do to have a better time on this planet

Yes. I think your comment points out a big issue in our societies. However, note that the article isn't about Bitcoin. Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) basically operate with a centralized database; no "mining", no pseudo-anonymity, most important, no gambling-like course changes. It represents the "offline money" 1:1, only is it managed centralized rather than federalized by many banks.

Wouldn't that also mean perfect visibility into the movement of money, and the death of cash?

Seems to me that perfect visibility into funds will be as deleterious to society as perfect law enforcement. How are you going to lead the next BLM, or LGBTQ rights, or just a plain old revolution when you can't fund anything?

There was a time, not long ago, when being gay was actually against the law. Imagine wanting to build a civil rights organization for homosexuals, but being unable to fund it because the government immediately and exactly knows which people associated with such a criminal enterprise.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#18

bitcoin solves nothing, worse it empower the "wanting to become millionaire overnight" syndrome that plagues our society this world is horrible when you look into the details, working and helping other people is not rewarded at all profiting from other people is what best people can do to have a better time on this planet

The market economy in fact solves many problems of 'helping other people' that we have just become so used to that we don't appreciate its complexity.

The fact that food is produced in abundance and is distributed in time to population centres for convenient consumption is a marvel of the modern world. And we're only getting better at it over time.

That's helping people.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#20
post #15

As a Swedish person I don't see the point at all: Why would I want to use this? I would rather have a decentralized system of various banks and global companies (Mastercard, Visa, etc) track my transactions and spread out that risk, instead of one single state actor. I could also use, you know, cash. Digital cash is first and foremost an instrument for new ways to do monetary policy, as more countries (like Sweden an…

And I believe the Swedish central bank has thought about you you could apply -ve interest rates to bank accounts as Sweden is so massively a non cash society.
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