With the rocketing popularity of cryptocurrency in today’s world, we look at its demand in Scandinavia and what cryptos the region favours. While other regions around the world would use cryptocurrency to pay for things such as movie tickets, food and even houses in some cases, the primary use case for crypto in Scandinavia is online casinos.
The rise of these casinos including an ‘Ethereum and Bitcoin casino’ enables users in Norway to use these coins to play. Norwegian gambling expert Gilfred Helmonsen said cryptocurrency transactions allow casino users to bypass centralised governments and avoid state-set restrictions.
“One of the main reasons cryptos gained so much in popularity is the rise of online casinos, as well as restrictions on certain payment methods such as credit cards,” he said. “People always find a way to work around governmental restrictions, and discreet and untraceable crypto transactions are perfect for such manoeuvres.”
Bitcoin and Ethereum are far and above the two most known and biggest cryptocurrencies in the world, and that status remains unchanged in the Scandinavian region.
Despite the governor of Norges Bank in Oslo, Oystein Olsen, stating that Bitcoin was far too unreliable and volatile to be considered a serious replacement for established currencies, Bitcoin remains the most used cryptocurrency in Scandinavia.
Ethereum ranks as the second most popular cryptocurrency in Scandinavia with those in the IT space a big user of the crypto with Binance, Cardano, and the stablecoin Tether rounding up the top five most popular cryptocurrencies in the region.
Countries globally are beginning to adopt a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) – including Sweden – which aims to protect the Swedish krona against the rise of decentralised cryptocurrencies.
With a parliamentary inquiry on the role of the government in the economy due to be completed in November 2022, the e-krona will help Sweden gain a foothold in a burgeoning digital economy that Bitcoin continues to thrive in.
Bitcoin’s popularity in the region is also down to its mining capabilities due to cheap electricity deriving from renewable energy sources in Europe’s Nordic countries such as Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Bitcoin mining was so potent in Iceland that talks took place of laying an undersea cable to the UK to deliver green power to Europe as, according to the Icelandic Blockchain Foundation, 8% of all Bitcoins have been mined there. While excess energy will be difficult to find in 2022 in Iceland, Scandinavia is a huge player in the cryptocurrency world.
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