In 2022, FI issued 3,471 warnings – 25 per cent more than in 2021. FI said there was an increasing number of fraudsters demanding that deposits from consumers are made in cryptocurrency to a crypto wallet. Payments are made via a cryptocurrency exchange to a number of different crypto wallets that the fraudsters say their made-up firms use. 

Mikael Sandahl, a supervisor at FI, warned the public that if the transaction requires the transfer of a payment in bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency, this is a "red flag", adding "serious firms do not ask for payment in this manner." 

The Authority calls for:

• The EU to consider an EU-level ban on the energy-intensive mining method proof of work. 
• Sweden to introduce measures that stop the continued establishment of crypto-mining production using energy-intensive methods.
• Companies which trade and invest in cryptoassets that were mined using the proof of work method, to not be allowed to describe or market themselves or their activities as sustainable.

The Authority says a ban on the proof of work mining method within the EU could be an important first step in a global move towards a greater use of more energy-efficient crypto mining methods. It would also mean that renewable energy is used as efficiently as possible in order to support the transition towards climate neutrality.

The trends on the payment market are:

1. digitalisation of the payment market has received an extra boost from the pandemic; 
2. interest in crypto currencies is increasing among the public, investors and payment service providers; and 
3. major Nordic banks are working to create a joint Nordic infrastructure for payments.

The central banks were the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the ECB, the Federal Reserve, the Swiss National Bank and the Riksbank.

The report on the first phase of the project describes in brief the technical solution tested and the legal analyses made of the solution. It also contains an account of the overall lessons learned from the project and the next step in the work.

FI conducted a thematic review of the market for financial instruments with cryptoassets as an underlying asset and concluded that the products are unsuitable for most, if not all, retail consumers.