Sweden is fast becoming the world’s first cashless society. 900 of Sweden’s 1,600 bank branches no longer store cash and accept cash deposits, The Cointelegraph reports.
The circulation of the Swedish krona has already decreased from 106bn in 2009 to 60bn in 2016.
“I think, in practice, Sweden will pretty much be a cashless society within about five years,” said Niklas Arvidsson, an associate professor specializing in payment systems innovation at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology.
The Sweden’s central banks, such as Riksbank, are considering the introduction of a digital form of government-backed money similar to Bitcoin (Bitcoin).
Bitcoin does not require the user to have a bank account and it also allows the user to spend their money, if not totally anonymously, in a manner that is close enough to mimic the anonymous usage of cash.