Vitalik Buterin Calls for Ethereum To Be More Private and Resilient Amid Rise of ‘Cashless Society’

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum says that ETH should work towards being more ready to play the role of cash.

In a new post on the social media platform X, Buterin comments on a report published by The Guardian about Sweden’s migration toward becoming a cashless society.

The report discusses how plans for Sweden to become completely cashless by 2025 have been partially successful. However, due to geopolitical uncertainties and the war in Eastern Europe, the Swedish government is now encouraging citizens to keep more cash – krona – on them.

Sweden launched a pilot program for an “e-krona” in 2017, but then ended it in 2023.

The Riksbank – Sweden’s central bank – stated in March that it determined there was little need to issue a digital krona, but that it would re-evaluate the plans if the European Central Bank (ECB) issued a digital euro.

Said the Riksbank,

“The Payments Inquiry’s assessment in 2023 was that there was insufficient social need for the Riksbank to issue an e-krona. At the same time, the inquiry considered that the Riksbank should continue to evaluate the conditions for issuing an e-krona so that it is possible to introduce an e-krona within a reasonable time if the Riksdag takes such a decision.”

Says Buterin on the Guardian story,

“Nordics are walking back the cashless society initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile. Cash turns out necessary as a backup.

Ethereum needs to be resilient enough, and private enough, to be able to credibly play this kind of role.”

Earlier this month, Buterin made headlines by calling Ethereum “needlessly complex.”

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