Sweden may be the first country without cash

 

A study conducted by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm shows that Sweden is on its way to becoming the first country in the world to have waived the cash . Today, five of the six largest banks in Sweden have refused to work with cash. In view of the recent leadership of the tax authorities ,Bitcoin has the potential to become a widely used currency in Sweden .

Electronic money.

People are already accustomed to using credit cards for payment. Even the smallest purchase in four of the five cases in Sweden are produced in electronic form . With the development of mobile networks and P2P payment systems the need for cash is rapidly becoming obsolete .

Niklas Arvidsson, a researcher in the field of industrial economics and management KTH , said :

"Cash is still an important means of payment in many markets , but is no longer a major in Sweden".

The recent launch of mobile payment applications Swish several large Swedish and Danish banks have already begun to revolutionize the banking system , says Arvidsson. As a result, several large banks refuse to take the money at all.

According to him , in nastroyaschee in circulation is less than 80 billion kronor , of this amount, only about 40 - 60 percent are actually in circulation . For comparison , 6 years ago in circulation was about 106 billion . CZK .

"We are the world trade in non-cash", explains Bengt Nilervall, representative of the Swedish Trade Federation, in an interview with The Guardian.

"This way, the safer and it saves us money , because the processing and transfer of funds are expensive . Payment Card Industry has taken a number of measures in order to allow people to be safe , and the Swedes trust electronic payments".

Bitcoin in Sweden

Given the confidence in the Swedish electronic payments , the Bitcoin also has the opportunity to become a widely used currency in Sweden , particularly after the decision to release the payment of VAT on Bitcoin exchanges across Europe .

In May 2015 the country's tax authority has published guidelines for the collection of income tax at a Bitcoin mining operations. This type of income is considered as an economic activity and is taxed , If a miner "is a producer in a professional and cost effective manner over a long period of time with the use of appropriate equipment", or if the "activity can be expected to create a surplus throughout the period of financial accounting" and "processing power will enable to generate more than 25 BTC in year".

In addition , it should be noted the friendly attitude of Sweden to Bitcoin : BitcoinPartiet, competition for market share of foreign payment start-ups , the numerous thematic events of Bitcoin . Neighboring Denmark in 2016 is prepared to abandon the printing of cash , and it will be interesting to see what file is able to choose the payment ,in Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole.