Norway to start digital currency tests after four years of research
The Norwegian central bank aims to find a preferred CBDC solution through new technical tests. The Norwegian central bank, Norges Bank, is set to test various technical solutions for a central bank digital currency following years of research.Norges Bank officially announced Friday that it will be conducting CBDC tests over the next two years upon recommendations from an internal working group. “The working group is of the opinion that the motivation for research into CBDCs has been strengthened. Many central banks are in the process of carrying out similar research, and several are....
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The payments application, Vipps extends its support to Bitcoins Norway cryptocurrency platform enabling users to purchase digital currency. The “Land of Midnight Sun”, Norway has stepped ahead of many countries when it comes to Bitcoin adoption. According to a user on Reddit and the Bitcoins Norway website, people in the country can now buy Bitcoin directly through Vipps Payment Application. Vipps is one of the widely-used payments application in the country. The platform operated by DNB ASA — Norway’s largest financial services group now allows people to pay for their Bitcoin purchase on....
A push to prohibit the energy-intensive proof-of-work mining of cryptocurrencies in Norway has been rejected by the majority of lawmakers. The ban had been suggested by the far-left Red Party which also didn’t win backing to raise an electricity tax for crypto miners.
Norway Will Not Ban Bitcoin Mining
The parliament of Norway has considered and voted against a draft law banning the minting of digital currencies based on the proof-of-work concept. The legislation, which was proposed by the communist Red Party in March, was supported only by two other leftist parties, SV....
Bad news for Bitcoin. Bitcoin has just taken another hit. Norway's director general of taxation, Hans Christian Holte, doesn't consider Bitcoin real money. Instead, the Norwegian government will consider Bitcoin as an asset subject to capital gains tax. Furthermore, there will be a high 25% sales tax for businesses making transactions in Bitcoin. According to Holte, "[Bitcoin] doesn't fall under the usual definition of money." Norway isn't the first country to reject Bitcoin as a legitimate currency. A lot of Asian countries have had similar policies towards the cryptocurrency. Earlier....
While the announcement came as a surprise to some, a digital Lira has been in the works since 2019 As the country struggles with soaring consumer prices and an inflation rate in the double digits, in an announcement to members of Turkey’s Parliament central bank governor Naci Agbal revealed that “conceptual” research had been completed on a Turkish central bank digital currency (CBDC), and that practical tests for such a currency would begin in the latter half of 2021.“There is an R&D project initiated on digital money,” said Agbal, according to two local outlets. “Currently the conceptual....
Cash usage has declined in Norway since COVID-19, but physical currency also carries strengths that CBDCs may lack. Speaking at an event on Thursday, Ida Wolden Bache, deputy governor at Norway's central bank, described a decline in cash payments while elaborating on Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs. "Only 4% of payments are now made using cash," Bache said in her speech during Finance Norway's Payments conference. "This share is approximately the same as in spring, and considerably lower than before the pandemic," she added. "To our knowledge, the share of cash payments is lower....