Sveriges Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves in comments at a Swedish banking conference gave some derogatory remarks about Bitcoin, he also likened trading the cryptocurrency to trading stamps.
Bitcoin (BTC) has been criticized by the governor of Sweden’s central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, as a far-fetched alternative to government-backed fiat currencies.
“Private money always collapses sooner or later,” Sveriges Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves said at a banking conference in Stockholm. “Sure, you can get rich trading bitcoin, but it’s comparable to selling stamps,” he added in a further derogatory remark.
Despite Ingves’ assessment of Bitcoin’s shortcomings as a currency, he has taken the currency’s popularity among investors seriously.
The central banker said in June that the cryptocurrency had grown “large enough” to warrant serious attention from regulators, central bankers, and lawmakers throughout the world, citing consumer interests and money laundering as key concerns.
The Riksbank has also taken advantage of Bitcoin’s core technology for its own central bank digital currency development initiative, despite Ingves’ low opinion of the cryptocurrency.
Sweden’s e-krona is based on a proof-of-concept developed by R3 and based on Corda, a distributed ledger technology solution.
According to the most recent report on the e-krona pilot, trials are ongoing, with simulated individuals collaborating with real-world entities, especially Handelsbanken, Sweden’s retail bank chain.
While the Riksbank’s policy is similar to that of most central banks and governments, El Salvador has become the first country to mandate the use of Bitcoin as legal money.
Despite Salvadorans’ concerns about the government’s decision, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and whistleblower Edward Snowden said this week that other nation-states might someday adopt the cryptocurrency.
