The central bank of Sweden, Sveriges Riksbank, is conducting a pilot project with the aim to develop a technical solution for the e-krona.
The world’s oldest central bank, Sveriges Riksbank or Riksbank, is conducting a pilot project with Accenture, in order to create a digital krona that is simple and user-friendly. The currency will be based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), also known as block-chain technology.
In a statement published by Riksbank, they highlight what they require from the e-krona: “A digital krona should be simple, user-friendly as well as fulfil critical requirements for security and performance.
“In the test environment, simulated users shall be able to hold e-kronor in a digital wallet, make payments, deposits and withdrawals via a mobile app. The user shall also be able to make payments via wearables, such as smart watches, and cards.”
The pilot project will run until the end of February 2021, however, Riksbank have given the option to extend and further develop the technical solution.
Despite this project, there has currently been no decision on issuing an e-krona, how it may be designed or the type of technology which will be used in the development process.
Technical solutions for the e-krona pilot
Despite Riksbank being the third oldest bank in operation, it is currently striving to implement more technology into their processes. Riksbank have highlighted that the e-krona pilot solution is based on the e-krona being: “distributed via participants in the e-krona network, for example banks, and offers a robust and parallel infrastructure to the existing payment system.
“The solution is based on digital tokens (e-kronor) that are portable, cannot be forged or copied (doublespent) and enable instantaneous, peer-to-peer payments as easily as sending a text.”
Riksbank continued: “DLT is a technology to keep databases operated by independent parties synchronised. The network ensures that only valid transactions are recorded. Each participant in the DLT network runs one or more nodes. In the e-krona network, the nodes store e-kronor and receive, validate and forward ekrona transactions.”
