Aino Bunge: Stablecoins and digital euro driven by digitalisation and geopolitics
Speech by Ms Aino Bunge, First Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at SNS (Center for Business and Policy Studies), Stockholm, 4 December 2025.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Slides accompanying the speech
My speech today will focus on two trends that characterise the international payments market and what they mean for us in Sweden and Europe. The first trend is that the payments market is still undergoing considerable change through digitalisation. This leads to reduced distances, global businesses and an expectation by all of us that t goods and services from the rest of the world should be a tap of a keyboard or a mobile phone screen away. The second trend is that the world is experiencing increased geopolitical tensions, polarisation and fragmentation, which may have major implications for the payments market as well. Digitalisation and our dependence on international technology services make us vulnerable to developments in the world around us, and we should worry about what happens if we suddenly lack connectivity or access to electricity.
Given the global nature of these trends, all central banks are essentially facing the same questions about how best to meet the challenges and harness the potential of digitalisation. Firstly, there is the question of how we view the money we issue – what form should it take, who should have access to it and how should it be used? Secondly, there is the question of the role that we as central banks should play in relation to private initiatives – who does what in the future?