As Sweden reconsiders its push toward a cashless society, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the fragility of centralized digital payments and the opportunity presented by decentralized payment alternatives.
In recent years, Sweden has led the charge toward a cashless future, with digital payment platforms becoming widespread. However, as concerns over cyber-threats, civil defense and instability have emerged, Swedish authorities are now actively encouraging citizens to keep some cash.
Buterin noted the reversal illustrates that while centralized solutions may be efficient, they may not be reliable during times of crisis.
“Nordics are walking back the cashless society initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile,” Buterin wrote, citing a March 16 article by The Guardian. “Cash turns out necessary as a backup.”
How Ethereum can play a role in a crisis
A former central bank official predicted in 2018 that Sweden would be cashless after seven years. In 2025, the prediction mostly held, with only one in 10 transactions in the country being done in cash, according to The Guardian.
Still, while the Nordic country was an early adopter of digital payments, its government published a brochure encouraging citizens to keep a week’s worth of cash in case of war or crisis. Sweden’s reconsideration has revealed the issue of centralized digital payment infrastructure remaining reliable in times of instability, Buterin suggested.
Buterin said Ethereum can be a decentralized financial fallback in times of crisis. “Ethereum needs to be resilient enough, and private enough, to be able to credibly play this kind of role,” Buterin said.
When asked if fully offline zero-knowledge technology-secured private transfers were close to practical implementation, Buterin said the tech know-how is already there, but there are still limitations:
“We basically know how to do it, but with the limitation that any solution depends on trusted hardware and/or post hoc enforcement against double-spenders.”
Related: Vitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes for Ethereum scaling
Crypto payments exec thinks crypto won’t replace fiat
While crypto payment solutions are becoming more common, Mercuryo co-founder and CEO Petr Kozyakov has said that crypto will not replace fiat.
Kozyakov told Cointelegraph in an interview that crypto payments are seeing an increase in demand and adoption.
However, the executive said that instead of cryptocurrencies fully replacing fiat money as a payment method, the two payment options will coexist.
Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that people will use crypto when it’s easier and more practical.
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