Live data from Hacker News

Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

reuters.com

31–40 of 72 posts

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#31
post #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?

Peer 2 peer loans are a thing.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#32
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…

Spread what risk? They are already making money of you. The risk they take is really small compared to what kind of money they are making...

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 bui…

I'm just diving into digital money to be honest, I'd be very happy if somebody had information on this topic. My gut feeling is that these are societal issues beyond the mere implementation of money. You could have policies that protect donors of societal organizations and automatically wipe associated records. I think the reality now is that big money is being laundered and stolen from society by big corporations. A…

My point is, in reality we now trust multiple layers of private banks, payment providers like Visa & MasterCard, Google Pay and Paypal.

These are known to give a fuck about society, shutting down things as they like, and even bringing US jurisdiction into other societies.

The advantages of anonymous payments are purely hypothetical for normal people and only benefit big players. Having digital central bank money would enable us to cut off the private money industry that makes a living with data analysis.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#34
post #28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loans are mostly money printed by central banks and sold via consumer banks. Likely e-mortgage would be provided by central bank directly.

Won't it lead to less accurate pricing of loans if there is only one central actor using rigid rules (needed to appear fair)?

The central actor can use the exact same rules that they currently make the lenders use.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#35
post #23

I went to a presentation by the working group behind this. It seemed like a shitshow. Maybe they’ve gained a lot of competence in a short time. Or maybe they are accelerating this to cement the negative interest rates, which could be more urgent if they keep spending on the pandemic.

I see this as driven by the negative interest rates, this is very interesting to read:

- https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2016/12/31/Bre...

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#36
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…

For this reason it’s important we start using cash again, and not attend shops and restaurants that don’t take it. Nowadays we have brutal armed robberies like never before, but using non-traceable currency is important for freedom.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#37
post #36
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…

For this reason it’s important we start using cash again, and not attend shops and restaurants that don’t take it. Nowadays we have brutal armed robberies like never before, but using non-traceable currency is important for freedom.

Source? I would have thought “brutal armed robberies” were way down from historical highs.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#38
post #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?

The Swedish central bank could simply pay you 0.2% of your house price per year by printing more money. Just don’t let the Stockholm/Göteborg housing prices fall... Weimar all over again.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#39
post #28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loans are mostly money printed by central banks and sold via consumer banks. Likely e-mortgage would be provided by central bank directly.

Won't it lead to less accurate pricing of loans if there is only one central actor using rigid rules (needed to appear fair)?

Fiat currency already means the supply side of capital is detached from anything in reality. Remember price is where supply and demand meet, and interest rate is the price of capital. Central planning of the currency market, just like DDR had central planning of the car market with the Trabant.

With central banking, the supply can be infinite, and that’s what we Swedes are seeing with NEGATIVE interest rates. Jyske Bank in DK borrows to consumers house loans where you are paid to borrow. It can not end well, please someone show me logically/from first principle how it ever can.

Re: Swedish bankers face identity crisis over digital currency plans

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just diving into digital money to be honest, I'd be very happy if somebody had information on this topic. My gut feeling is that these are societal issues beyond the mere implementation of money. You could have policies that protect donors of societal organizations and automatically wipe associated records. I think the reality now is that big money is being laundered and stolen from society by big corporations. A…

My point is, in reality we now trust multiple layers of private banks, payment providers like Visa & MasterCard, Google Pay and Paypal. These are known to give a fuck about society, shutting down things as they like, and even bringing US jurisdiction into other societies. The advantages of anonymous payments are purely hypothetical for normal people and only benefit big players. Having digital central bank money woul…

I would much prefer to have a state run a bank. As they are very less likely to arbitrary cut of my access. And on other hand they can already order any operator in the area to hand over them the details of what I have done in past years...
Post reply on HN