This is an opinion editorial by Rune Østgård and Alexander Ellefsen, financial writers based in Norway.

Although we don’t have exact numbers on Bitcoin adoption globally, we do know that the global average cryptocurrency adoption rate was estimated to be at about .

A lower exchange rate makes imports more costly, fuels CPI numbers and gives the central bank an excuse to continue to raise interest rates. Norwegian citizens therefore are now hit with a triple whammy: high interest rates, high domestic price inflation and sharply increased costs for the thousands of sun-deprived Norwegians who are used to traveling abroad for their vacations. When the mainstream media covers the weak NOK, the standard theme is that budgets dictate that people must stay within the borders when they go on summer holiday this year.

Corporations that have a relatively-high share of their costs in foreign currency while their income mainly is in NOK have a particularly tough time. Home builders, who find themselves in this category due to increased reliance on imported materials, are hit hard. The weak currency eats up their profits, while the steep interest rate hikes have caused the market for sales of new homes to plummet. Adjusted for population growth, sales are now at the same levels as when the market bottomed out during the great financial crisis.

If you also consider that:

• The government continues to raise taxes although Norway already has a high tax rate and a public sector that consumes about two-thirds of GDP (66% in the pandemic year of 2020 and 61% in 2022)
• A record number of super-rich people are abandoning Norway for low-tax countries
• Norwegians now top the OECD’s ranking of debt to disposable income per household (247%)

…then the picture looks increasingly grim.

It probably doesn’t help the NOK that most of the state’s income from taxes on oil and gas is being transferred to the government’s sovereign wealth fund, which only invests its capital outside of Norway. Today, the fund makes up more than two times the GDP. The consequence of swapping the value of the petroleum resources in Norway for capital that is invested abroad is that the country gets an increasingly smaller capital base that the NOK can be invested in.

No wonder that the players in the foreign-exchange market and the wealthiest Norwegians worry that the NOK in the future will be reduced to nothing but a token for tax payments.

Primed For Bitcoin

The violent depreciation of the NOK compared to the currencies of almost all other nations and the low adoption rate of cryptocurrencies make the Norwegian case special. If the NOK falls further and Norwegians invest more into bitcoin, this might indicate that the same will happen in other advanced economies with loose monetary policies.

It remains to be seen if Norwegian citizens and corporations begin to line up for a consultation with Dr. Bitcoin. Considering that there is no other remedy in sight, we believe that economic incentives will beat the citizens’ exaggerated trust in the government.

This is a guest post by Rune Østgård and Alexander Ellefsen. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.