New cryptocurrency laws and regulations in Poland. Estimated penalties up to 100 PLN

No, no one has comprehensively dealt with the digital asset market, because the Polish authorities - like many other countries - still do not understand blockchain technology and they think it's a fad. But we know the draft law changes adopted by the Council of Ministers. The topic of cryptocurrencies was - of course - in the part concerning money laundering and counteracting terrorism.

The Council of Ministers adopted the draft amendment to the Act on Counteracting Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing of January 12, 2021. There is a fragment in it that concerns entities involved in the sale, trade, offering and storage of virtual currencies. 

Cryptocurrency regulations in Poland

The regulation will mainly concern the need to enter all entities involved in cryptocurrency trading in the register. But that's not all. You will also have to prove that natural persons dealing with this topic have the appropriate competences.

CHECK: CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGES - SUMMARY 2021

In Polish law, there is already a definition of activity on the cryptocurrency market. It applies to all entrepreneurs who deal with the exchange of virtual currencies into fiat currencies (not only into zlotys), as well as the exchange of cryptocurrencies for cryptocurrencies. This also applies to intermediaries.

According to the new regulations, these obligations will also be extended to suppliers of hardware and virtual wallets, which are referred to in the act "Special type of accounts". However, reading the definition of this phrase, we can be sure that it is about wallets, because we read in it that it is "A collection of identification data kept in an electronic form, ensuring that authorized persons can use virtual currency units, including carrying out transactions of their exchange".

Entrepreneurs in the register, the requirement of a criminal record

Each entrepreneur who wants to deal with this market will have to obtain an entry in the register. Lack of this entry will result in a high financial penalty, reaching 100. PLN, so it can be assumed that the legislator wants the market to be dominated by big players. 

Apart from the entry in the register of the Minister of Finance, the amendment to the act also includes additional requirements. Although it is allowed to operate on the market of natural persons, as well as legal persons or organizational units without legal personality, they will have to meet the requirement of a clean criminal record (no conviction for, inter alia, an intentional crime against property, credibility of documents and money and securities trading). 

However, this is just the beginning. They will also have to prove their knowledge and experience in the virtual currency market. How? In the act we read, inter alia, about documented training or courses, but also about performing activities related to activities in the field of virtual currencies for a period of at least one year.

KNF continues to warn against cryptocurrencies

This is another government document that has appeared in recent weeks and concerns cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of December 2020, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority once again issued the document, wherein warns against the cryptocurrency market and the risks associated with it. 

The document reads, among others:

"Due to the unregulated legal status of crypto assets, the issue, purchase, use and trading in them may be associated with various types of risks, including in particular the inability to enforce claims related to the acquisition of a given crypto-asset, the risk of losing access to it, or a significant decline in the value of the crypto asset, irrespective of the assessment of this type of supervisory activity by the Commission. "

The KNF emphasized that there is no standardization and legal certainty in the approach to the use of crypto assets in Poland. However, the commission's position concerns only crypto assets to which, due to the issuer's seat, physical location (including servers), the seat of the trading platform owner, the place of residence or the seat of buyers, or other formal and legal circumstances, it is justified to apply the provisions of Polish law.