Sweden, known for innovation and with the oldest central bank, became the first country to implement negative interest rates in 2009. Additionally, they are almost cashless and have been aggressively experimenting with the E-krona, their CBDC (Central Bank digital Currency), originally stating it would be ready by 2018. Apparently, they were wrong. In the first study of the digital currency they state that the project may be completed next year, but they have actually given themselves until the end of 2026 to complete their CBDC project. It seems to be more difficult to do for most central banks, but not China.

There are clear advantages to having full control over citizens and China seems to take full advantage and has been running their own CBDC pilot programs. When fully implemented, this will be the first for any major economy and will likely position China’s yuan for international use and as direct competition to the US dollar in global trade settlement.

But what I find particularly interesting to watch is how this new digital yuan looks on a phone screen, very much like the paper yuan.

One thing that central bankers know is that if you want to introduce a new currency and a new system, at least initially, keep everything as normal as possible. They’ve had a lot of practice even here in the U.S., moving us from a gold standard that protected its citizens, to a gold backed system, to a debt backed paper system. It is not a coincidence that all those bills look very similar. Nor will it be a coincidence when the Fed issues the digital dollar and its image looks very similar to the paper dollar.

But it seems the transition is heating up and there are signs that the stock market may be breaking down. Will everything be in place when the public becomes aware of the ruse as the fiat markets breakdown?

If you have gold, it will not matter because you hold real money…with no counter party risk.

Slides

Sources

Slide 1:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-07/sweden-s-central-bank-reveals-first-study-of-digital-currency?cmpid=BBD040721_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=210407&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily&sref=rWFqAg1Y

https://www.riksbank.se/globalassets/media/rapporter/e-krona/2021/e-krona-pilot-phase-1.pdf

Slide 2: N/A

Slide 3: N/A

Slide 4:

https://wqow.com/2021/03/19/g7-suggest-boosting-imf-reserves-to-help-vulnerable-nations/

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/03/23/pr2177-imf-execdir-discuss-new-sdr-allocation-us-650b-boost-reserves-help-global-recovery-covid19

Slide 5:

https://www.ft.com/content/fde7833a-8283-45b8-97ae-9104e1c974cd?desktop=true&segmentId=7c8f09b9-9b61-4fbb-9430-9208a9e233c8#myft:notification:daily-email:content

https://tradingeconomics.com/italy/government-debt-to-gdphttps://www.ceps.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PI2019_11_Italian-public-debt-holdings.pdf

Slide 6: N/A

Slide 7:

Historic 1822 Half Eagle Sold for $8.4 Million in Stack’s Bowers March 2021 Auction