Legal status of crypto money and cryptocurrency exchanges without financial authorities supervision – Polish and global perspective.
The concept of creating a decentralized electronic payment system was created in the 1990s, but this movement gained momentum during the last financial crisis, which peaked in 2008-2009. Cryptocurrencies are a form of decentralized digital money based on blockchain technology. As an introduction, it is worth mentioning that the first cryptocurrency to enjoy increasing popularity was Bitcoin. The date of its creation and the beginning of the growing popularity of virtual currencies is set at 2009. Even before the appearance of the first Polish cryptocurrency exchanges, there was a Polish currency exchange office operating on the market, allowing the exchange of digital currencies. The first bitcoin exchange was established in 2010, but like many others, it did not stand the test of time.
Being one of the most popular topic of the last years in technology, blockchain offers great perspectives but still remains often seen as vague, complicated matter. Not going into details, it can be surely stated that it is not as complicated as it may seem, both in understanding and especially in application. In a nutshell, blockchain is a technology which secures sharing of information, storing data in a digital database on a distributed ledger of blocks. It allows mostly to record transactions or track assets of various kinds. Importantly, it runs completely online but is properly secured: all information stored is cryptographically coded and to access specific data you need to use your own, private key which is authenticated by network.
That being said, the most important application for blockchain is now cryptocurrency, the most known being bitcoin. The very existence and operation of crypto depend on the blockchain technology. Nowadays, it is not just growing popularity of fashionable crypto assets but an actual growth in the use of this technology in business. In 2022, there were estimated 2,353 businesses in the US accepting bitcoin and the number is believed to grow. Cryptocurrencies are being used by different brands, for different purposes: from purchasing tickets or non-fungible tokens to even buying real estate. The scope of possibilities may be not unlimited but certainly is bound to be increasingly broader.
Polish industrial property law provides for the protection of intangible assets that have industrial applications. One of the possible subjective rights that protect the rights of the owner of intangible property is a patent, which is granted for an invention and gives the exclusive right to use it for profit, professionally and as a subject of legal transactions.
The Directive, commonly known as e-Privacy, refers to Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications). It is a European legal act with a broad scope of privacy issues. Its purpose is to ensure the protection of data originating from electronic communications and the privacy of users, in other words, of terminal equipment (computers, telephones, tablets). According to Article 1 of the e-Privacy Directive „This Directive provides for the harmonisation of the national provisions required to ensure an equivalent level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and in particular the right to privacy and confidentiality, with respect to the processing of personal data in the electronic communication sector and to ensure the free movement of such data and of electronic communication equipment and services in the Community”. In addition, according to Article 3 of the e-Privacy Directive, „This Directive shall apply to the processing of personal data in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services in public communications networks in the Community, including public communications networks supporting data collection and identification devices”.
e-Delivery is the electronic equivalent of a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. Thanks to this service, public entities, citizens, companies and public trust professions can benefit from convenient and safe electronic deliveries. They are legally equivalent to traditional registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. The Polish Act on Electronic Deliveries (Act of November 18, 2020 on Electronic Deliveries (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 285, as amended)) provides for the introduction of a completely new system of contact between offices and their clients, as well as the possibility of exchanging electronic correspondence between private entities. E-Delivery is intended to eliminate the circulation of paper correspondence from the market, i.e. replace the current registered mail with return receipt or personal delivery. Instead, public authorities will contact entrepreneurs electronically, and when cannot be used, they will use a public hybrid service, i.e. sending paper letters using automatic letter printing and packaging systems by Poczta Polska (Polish Post). As a consequence, the exchange of correspondence as part of the new services will allow official matters to be handled electronically, in a way that ensures effectiveness, mutual identification, shortened implementation time, as well as communication security. At the same time, traditional delivery by registered mail will be eliminated by modern delivery methods.
