Today Sweden’s Riksbank published the results of the fourth phase of its e-Krona central bank digital currency (CBDC). The focus was on offline CBDC payments using account balances. In a previous phase it trialed offline token-based payments. While the central bank concluded offline payments are viable, the security requirements are significant. For some types of offline payments, this impacts usability.
Mobile phones are considered too insecure to be the sole offline payment device. Instead, consumers use payment cards that are compatible with the EMV standard used by most card networks. A key reason cards are considered more secure is that code is stored on the card and can’t be altered.
Hence, the central bank imposed limits in the code, such as a maximum wallet amount of SEK 3,000 ($286) and no more than five consecutive offline transactions before connecting to the internet. The challenge is that if the central bank wants to change those limits, the cards must be replaced.
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