Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlights the fragility of centralized digital payments and the opportunity presented by decentralized payment alternatives.

As Sweden reconsiders its push toward a cashless society, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the fragility of centralized digital payments and the opportunity presented by decentralized payment alternatives.

As Sweden is reconsidering its push toward a cashless society, Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the fragility of centralized digital payments and the opportunity presented by decentralized payment alternatives.

Highlighting an article by The Guardian, Buterin said Nordics are walking back the cashless society initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile.

“Cash turns out necessary as a backup,” Buterin stated.

How Ethereum can play a role in a crisis

A former central bank official predicted in 2018 that Sweden would be cashless after seven years. The prediction mostly held as in 2025 only one in 10 transactions in the country are done in cash, according to The Guardian.

But while the Nordic country was an early adopter of digital payments, its government published a brochure encouraging citizens to keep a week’s worth of cash in case of war or crisis.

Buterin noted that the re-emergence of cash on the scene may be a setback for those who had hoped for a rapid crypto future.

However, he pointed out that the issue of central digital payment infrastructure remaining reliable in times of instability has been highlighted.

Buterin suggested that Ethereum can be a decentralized financial fallback in times of crisis.

“Ethereum needs to be resilient enough, and private enough, to be able to credibly play this kind of role,” Buterin said.

When asked if fully offline zero-knowledge technology-secured private transfers were close to practical implementation, Buterin said the tech know-how is already there, but there are still limitations:

Related: Vitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes for Ethereum scaling

Crypto payments exec thinks crypto won’t replace fiat

Meanwhile, Mercuryo co-founder and CEO Petr Kozyakov has said that crypto will not replace fiat.

Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that crypto payment solutions are becoming more common and there is an increase in demand and adoption for them.

However, he believes that instead of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Etheruem, fully replacing fiat money as a payment method, the two payment options will coexist.

Kozyakov explained that people will use crypto when it’s easier and more practical.

For example, he explained that if someone needs to send money to another country quickly and at a low cost, they might choose to use a crypto payment service.

But if someone is making a small purchase in a local store, they are likely to use fiat, Kozyakov added.