Cryptocurrencies may change the way the financial markets work and render traditional monetary policies obsolete. How should governments react to the opportunities and threats that crypto assets pose?
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, anonymous alternatives to traditional money. They can render middlemen, like banks and brokers, obsolete. At the same time, new actors and new services take the stage, in the partially (or wholly) unregulated markets.
The market value of cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets has sky rocketed to more than two billion US dollar, a tenfold increase over the last two years. In Norway alone, an estimated 420.000 people — ten percent of the adult population — hold cryptocurrencies with a market value of several billion Norwegian kroner. If this development continues, the crypto economy may radically change the financial markets.
The Norwegian Board of Technology asks what Norwegian crypto politics should look like. Should Norway choose a more forward-leaning approach? At the same time, we want to look into the risks posed by cryptocurrencies, related to criminal activities, power consumption, and financial stability. The project will also address digital central bank currencies, a concept that the Norwegian Central Bank is exploring, partially as a response to the rise of crypto currencies.
The goal is to raise the level of awareness and knowledge, and to come up with potential courses of action.
Project plan
- Meeting with the Technology group in Parliament (completed March 3rd, 2022)
- Open, digital meeting explaining cryptocurrencies (completed March 31st, 2022)
- Policy brief about cryptocurrencies (published April 26th, 2022)
- Open, digital meeting explaining central bank digital currencies (planned May 2022)
- Plicy brief about central bank digital currencies (planned May 2022)
- Engaging in relevant political processes like hearings, and the public debate (ongoing)
- Consider a more comprehensive report with policy recommendations, with the support of an expert group (tbd, autumn 2022)
