The Polish Commission for Financial Supervision (KNF) develops legislation to regulate digital currencies and the cryptocurrency industry.
The Polish regulator said that the trading of bitcoin and other crypto-assets in the country is not prohibited, however, it is necessary to develop clearer and more universal regulatory and legal provisions in accordance with which the players of the cryptocurrency market should conduct their activities. KNF has drawn up a “draft” of the rules for issuing and trading cryptocurrencies. It describes the basic concept of digital currencies, possible options for their use, as well as the classification of cryptocurrencies in accordance with Polish law. The document will be published this week.
KNF is ready to discuss this initiative with financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms. The agency believes that it is necessary to seriously approach the issue of regulating crypto assets in the country in order to prevent money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorist financing. Regulators and central banks in other countries are looking more closely at this issue, and Poland is about to follow suit.
In 2018, the Polish Ministry of Finance announced that income from cryptocurrency transactions would be taxed between 18% and 32%, which caused massive discontent among traders. The government later announced that it would temporarily abolish the tax on digital currencies due to a petition from cryptocurrency traders that collected more than 5,000 signatures to reverse changes to Polish tax legislation. In addition, in February 2018, the Central Bank of Poland (NBP), together with KNF, launched a campaign on popular blogs against cryptocurrency investments.
Perhaps the new regulations regarding the cryptocurrency industry will contribute to its development in the country. Today, the use of digital currencies in Poland is not officially allowed, but not prohibited either, so the creation of a clear legal framework will help eliminate uncertainties.
