{"id":24301,"date":"2025-05-27T12:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/vitalik-buterin-highlights-ethereums-role-amid-swedens-cash-revival\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T12:15:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:15:19","slug":"vitalik-buterin-highlights-ethereums-role-amid-swedens-cash-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/vitalik-buterin-highlights-ethereums-role-amid-swedens-cash-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitalik Buterin Highlights Ethereum&#8217;s Role Amid Sweden&#8217;s Cash Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vitalik Buterin emphasized the fragility of centralized digital payments and the potential of decentralized alternatives. The Ethereum co-founder commented on Sweden&#8217;s shift away from a cashless policy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">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.<\/p>\n<p>Ethereum needs to be resilient enough, and private enough, to be able to credibly play this kind of role.\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eFVYT254qN\">pic.twitter.com\/eFVYT254qN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VitalikButerin\/status\/1926616257094091216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;Nordic countries are abandoning the &#8216;cashless society&#8217; initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile. Cash turns out necessary as a backup asset. Ethereum must be resilient enough and private enough to take on such a role,&#8221;<\/em> wrote Buterin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The cryptographer&#8217;s words suggest that the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization can serve as a reliable alternative during periods of instability.<\/p>\n<p>The Ethereum co-founder was responding to an article in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/mar\/16\/sweden-cash-digital-payments-electronic-banking-security\">The Guardian<\/a>, which reported that amid increasing geopolitical uncertainty, official Stockholm is urging citizens to use cash more actively. The population was advised to regularly keep at least a week&#8217;s supply of cash in various denominations to &#8220;increase preparedness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Seven years after declaring such a course, only one in ten transactions in the country was conducted in cash, according to the publication.<\/p>\n<p>Sweden is not the only Nordic country retreating from plans to transition to a cashless society. In 2024, Norway passed a law allowing retailers to be fined or penalized if they do not accept cash. The government also recommended that citizens &#8220;carry some physical notes due to the vulnerability of digital payment solutions to cyberattacks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the practical implementation of fully autonomous ZK-protected private transfers, Buterin responded that the technological know-how exists, but there are still limitations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rohangrey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rohangrey<\/a> has done a lot of deep thought in this direction.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VitalikButerin\/status\/1926618144711295144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;We know how to do it, but with the limitation that any solution depends on trusted hardware and\/or post hoc enforcement against double-spenders,&#8221;<\/em> he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Back in 2025, Buterin <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/vitalik-buterin-outlines-personal-priorities-for-2025\">mentioned<\/a> that he would focus on issues of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/vitalik-buterin-declares-privacy-the-foundation-of-freedom\">privacy<\/a>, communication tools, information, and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/vitalik-buterin-highlights-core-issue-in-ethereum-applications\">social level<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vitalik Buterin emphasized the fragility of centralized digital payments and the potential of decentralized alternatives. The Ethereum co-founder commented on Sweden&#8217;s shift away from a cashless policy. 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1198,46,36,1507,200],"class_list":["post-24301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crypto-payments","tag-ethereum","tag-regulation","tag-sweden","tag-vitalik-buterin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"64","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}