The decline of cryptocurrencies or the rise of sovereign digital money?

The decline of cryptocurrencies or the rise of sovereign digital money? What future for cryptocurrencies if central banks launch their own national digital currencies? Cryptocurrencies have gone through pronounced highs and lows lately and it remains to be seen what will happen if the first digital currency issued by a central bank is launched. In fact, Sweden has already expressed its desire to put a national digital currency into circulation in the coming years. Given the progressive decline in the use of cash in this country, the Riksbank (the central bank of Sweden) is exploring this possibility. The "e-crown", as they pretend to call it, is being conceived as a tool that will have the same function as the tangible crown in the present: a currency without intermediaries, accessible to all citizens and that can be used in any type of payment , regardless of its value. Sweden is not the only country that has been exploring the possibility of launching a digital version of the national currency. The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Israel have formed working groups in order to better understand the implications of such a project and evaluate its usefulness and necessity. Although they are still under exploration, over time these initiatives could be a major blow to cryptocurrencies around the world at a time when the Initial Coin Offers ("ICO") seem to be the hottest product on the market. Last week, bitcoin faced some difficulties after the announcement of the possible closure of all the cryptocurrency markets in South Korea, a news that caused the value of bitcoin to plummet by 25%. It is expected that today the final decision on its future in the country that will host the Olympic Winter Games this year will be announced. But, regardless of the result, these drastic fluctuations demonstrate how volatile and unstable cryptocurrencies are and many experts wonder if they will ever become a substitute for regulated currencies of legal tender, whether they are fiat or digital. Even Warren Buffet, one of the most admired investors in the world, has made it clear that neither he nor his investment company have any intention of going in that direction, since [[cryptocurrencies] "are going to end badly." The technological giant Microsoft and the digital distribution platform Steam have also stopped accepting bitcoins as a form of payment due to their "high commissions and excessive volatility". Therefore, despite the current uproar over the announcement of the upcoming launch of an ICO by the Telegram messaging application (which is expected to be one of the largest in history), it may be time to ask why more and more countries are thinking about imposing (or have already imposed) a series of restrictions and regulations regarding these virtual and anonymous "coins". From China to Russia and now possibly also Korea, governments are cautious (and rightly so) about these "crypts" that increasingly seem less a "currency" and more a mere speculative product.