Riksbank urges lawmakers to prepare e-krona legislation as digital euro and stablecoins loom

Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, is pressing parliament to begin drafting legislation for a digital krona, warning that inaction could leave the Swedish krona unable to compete with foreign-currency stablecoins and a forthcoming digital euro. The push marks a revival of a debate that a 2023 government inquiry effectively shelved, after that review concluded demand for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) was insufficient.

The Riksbank’s concern centres on a structural shift already under way: just 5% of Swedes surveyed used cash for their most recent purchase, according to the central bank’s own data, and the bank fears that without a credible digital alternative, payments could migrate toward instruments denominated in other currencies. Deputy Governor Per Jansson framed it bluntly, warning that without a usable digital krona, the currency may struggle to hold its own against cross-border digital payment tools. A foreign-currency stablecoin-driven erosion of krona demand would, in the bank’s view, complicate both monetary policy transmission and financial stability management.

The Riksbank has stopped short of formally recommending issuance, but wants legislative groundwork to start now given that building the system would take a minimum of five years. The bank also points to resilience as a secondary rationale, envisaging offline payment capability as a fallback during power or telecoms failures. One possible development path noted in the source is drawing on the digital euro’s infrastructure, with the European Central Bank‘s CBDC potentially launching in 2029 subject to European Union legislative approval.

For operators tracking CBDC timelines in Europe, the Swedish episode illustrates how competitive pressure from private stablecoins is reshaping the political economy of sovereign digital currency. A 2023 conclusion that demand was too thin has given way, within roughly three years, to an argument rooted in monetary sovereignty and systemic risk, suggesting that the threshold for legislative action may be lower than earlier reviews implied.