Cash withdrawal limits

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-01/moscow-and-beijing-join-forces-bypass-us-dollar-global-markets-shift-gold-standard Petrodollar continues to be under increasing pressure.

Sweden has 547.14 SEK billion = $62.87 billion USD in October of 2016 in foreign reserves (roughly $6000 per capita) there is a proposal to halve that amount

I don't have any convenient recent data, but these statistics are from ten years ago.

1 Singapore $35,522.82 2007
2 Hong Kong $22,078.28 2007
3 Libya $13,766.61 2007
4 United Arab Emirates $13,323.34 2007
5 Norway $10,646.52 2006
6 Malta $9,284.93 2007
7 Qatar $8,461.91 2007
8 Iceland $7,818.57 2007
9 Japan $7,467.28 2007
10 Kuwait $6,567.72 2007
11 Cyprus $6,120.81 2007
12 Equatorial Guinea $6,012.96 2007
13 Denmark $5,587.36 2006
14 South Korea $5,395.28 2007
15 Trinidad and Tobago $5,148.70 2007
16 Switzerland $5,116.29 2006
17 Botswana $5,111.77 2007
18 Lebanon $4,963.99 2007
19 New Zealand $4,079.65 2007
20 Bahrain $3,972.48 2007
21 Israel $3,972.09 2007
22 Malaysia $3,770.44 2007
23 Oman $3,706.21 2007
24 Slovakia $3,516.56 2007
25 Russia $3,352.57 2007
26 Czech Republic $3,347.15 2007
27 Algeria $3,151.26 2007
28 Croatia $3,081.61 2007
29 Slovenia $2,815.49 2007
30 Latvia $2,529.77 2007
31 Sweden $2,451.41 2006


The EU is freaking out about the possibility of countries like Sweden dumping their foreign reserves. Presumably the countries in Europe that are not in the Euro zone hold significant amounts of Euros in reserves.

Calls for a Swedish crypto currency are increasing, as they are in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Britain. Where are we headed?

Quote: Pacomartin

Calls for a Swedish crypto currency are increasing, as they are in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Britain. Where are we headed?

I think we are headed away from politicized currency. Look at what happens when Israel and the Arabs go to war: all Arab states sell massive amounts of the US dollar. Look at what happens when any hiccup appears ... currencies get hit.

Now Iceland and Britain have had banking problems, Norway and Denmark are known for stability.

I don't know where we are headed but I think everyone hopes we are headed toward safety and stability. That used to be the US Dollar, it ain't anymore. For awhile there it was the Euro, it ain't anymore.

Cryptocurrency? Gold? Locked Reserves? Whatever.... too many people seem to be worried. Everyone is seeking a safe port but no one seems to know where on is.

Quote: Fleastiff

I don't know where we are headed but I think everyone hopes we are headed toward safety and stability. That used to be the US Dollar, it ain't anymore. For awhile there it was the Euro, it ain't anymore.

The Swedish Central Bank has taken the position that they did not create the massive decrease in the amount of cash in circulation in that country. They are, in reality, the victims of the changing economy which is driven by the commercial banks, to not use cash.

Ms Skingsley, the chosen spokesperson from the Swedish Central bank on this issue, states very clearly that the central bank must issue electronic money so that the entire country does not switch to commercial bank money which is based on loans. The central bank cannot go bankrupt, unless the country goes bankrupt.

Quote: Swedish Central Bank (Riksbank)

E-money as complement to cash

Ms Skingsley also took up the consequences of the substantial decline in cash management, which is to a large extent due to new technology which provides new means of payment. "One can say that the Riksbank's banknote monopoly has almost had its day, as a number of rapid and simple electronic means of payment are being supplied by private agencies," commented Ms Skingsley. If the printing press made it possible to print banknotes in its time, then our current technology enables electronic payments. It is therefore reasonable to try to find out whether the Riksbank can issue money in a digital form, e-money, which is guaranteed by the Riksbank in the same way as banknotes and coins, concluded Ms Skingsley.

Sweden and Norway have been the most vocal about introducing electronic currency, although it is widely discussed in public by many central banks (including UK and Japan). Sweden's official position is that electronic money will complement, and not replace, physical currency. However, the physical currency is at such low levels in that country today, that it is difficult to believe that it won't vanish completely if government issued electronic money is introduced.

A condition for membership into the EU is that these six currencies must be replaced by the Euro. The figure is a rough estimate of the value of the banknotes issued by that country.
54 € billions Polish złoty
21 € billions Czech koruna
17 € billions Romanian leu
12 € billions Hungarian forint
9 € billions Croatian kuna
6 € billions Bulgarian lev

FBI warns all banks and payment processors of an impending Total Withdrawal raid on ATMs that will result from some already performed data breach that has not been discovered yet. Likely scenario, software is hacked to remove all fraud controls so that for one day there are no limits on the number of times a particular card may be used, no limits on the amounts that can be withdrawn and all accounts are deemed to have absurdly high balances. A criminal with a card and a PIN can then withdraw funds until such time as the ATM detects it has no cash left. This happens at several ATMs on the same day and afterwards the software is restored.
So it may well be a cashless society for awhile.