From the NYT,
At more than half of the branches of the country’s biggest banks, including SEB, Swedbank, Nordea Bank and others, no cash is kept on hand, nor are cash deposits accepted. They say they are saving a significant amount on security by removing the incentive for bank robberies.
The country is that far along in its use of electronic payments.
I wonder when bank robberies became such a big problem in Sweden that banks would decide to avoid holding cash.
Did they really just ‘decide’ or were they also encouraged by a government discouraging the use of cash as a medium of exchange? Most governments don’t like cash for obvious reasons.
I think there may be something other than the usual governmental dislike of cash going on here. Maybe an attempt to deal with the consequences of some other consensual hallucination of the Swedish governing class. Who knows.
Is this not a great opportunity for private cash to replace government money?
I see the following main alternatives, although there must be many more:
1) Adopt Bitcoin or one of the other electronic currencies. This may appeal to the technologically savvy, but until prices are stated in Bitcoin I don’t know how practical this is.
2) Use a foreign currency, the Euro would be the obvious choice, as a private currency in Sweden (where they have the SEK or Swedish Crown). The value of a Euro is widely known but you will have to find somewhere safe to stash your cash.
3) Some enterprising individual(s) could issue a “Bitcoin” that is exchangeable 1:1 with the Swedish Crown. This solves the problem of Bitcoin’s floating rate whilst preserving the anonymity of electronic cash. The issuer would be assuming the role of a (private) central bank and thus would need deep pockets.