Many merchants in Poland have started accepting bitcoin payments for various reasons. The impact of bitcoin on Poland’s economy will be addressed in this post. Visit http://cryptolina.com/ for more info.
6 Ways how bitcoin affected the Poland economy:
- Poland’s economy has been growing during the past several years. At first, it started slowly, but then it got momentum and reached a steady growth rate of approx a 1% yearly increase in 2016, according to the central bank’s predictions.
Furthermore, bitcoin is regarded as an investment instrument rather than money by Polish authorities and has made it very popular. Therefore, no taxes are applied to any capital gains made on investments.
- Several Polish bitcoin exchanges have been gaining popularity since 2014. The majority of them are located in Warsaw, but it’s worth noting that Krakow has also emerged as a significant city for digital currencies.
These exchanges make buying and selling bitcoins much more accessible and straightforward than other options. As a result, Poland is one of the biggest markets for bitcoin in Eastern Europe, according to Bitcoincharts.
- An increasing number of Polish businesses have started accepting bitcoin payments due to its convenience and flexibility. Most of them are small local companies that want to attract more clients by offering this payment method alongside fiat money.
Also, some Polish websites accept bitcoin, such as porównywarka. Pl. This is a price comparison service where clients enter the product they want to buy and compare the prices of various online shops selling them.
- According to Coin ATM Radar, Poland will soon have another bitcoin ATM in Wroclaw at Wyzwanie Cafe. Although this currency is not yet prevalent among the general public, several banks are discussing related matters with Polish authorities which can be perceived as an optimistic signal.
- Speaking about cryptocurrency in Poland, it’s worth mentioning that a website called Blockchaincenter provides detailed information about bitcoin and its underlying technology blockchain. This site was started in 2013 by a Polish programmer named Piotrek Oktabryski.
- The Blockchain Center website also has a forum to discuss digital currencies and blockchain technology.
7 Negatives of bitcoin on the economy of Poland:
- The majority of Poles still aren’t aware of bitcoin, which hardly affects the country’s economy. However, this may change in the future as Poland becomes an increasingly developed country and more people start learning about this digital currency.
- Several Polish banks haven’t yet expressed interest in facilitating bitcoin trading, such as Bank Pekao and Bank Polski (Polish Bank). Due to concerns about bitcoin’s volatility.
So far, it has increased and decreased in value multiple times over the years, which has caused some investors to lose money.
- Most Polish merchants that accept bitcoin as a payment method do so through authorized gateways such as bitpay and codify. However, bitcoin hasn’t significantly impacted Poland’s economy because it isn’t accepted by major online shops and stores such as Allegro or Empik.
- The law passed in 2014 doesn’t clearly state the legal status of bitcoin. Due to this, it’s not regarded as a currency, which gives it a massive advantage over fiat money in terms of tax evasion. This way, people can easily save a large chunk of their income without being caught by the government.
- Due to its P2P nature, bitcoin has become the preferred payment method for various illegal goods and services such as buying drugs or weapons.
This may cause the Polish government to become more suspicious about digital currencies in the future.
- It’s worth mentioning that several Polish crypto exchanges have been hacked in the past resulting in large amounts of investors’ money being stolen.
- Even though most Polish banks don’t support digital currencies such as bitcoin, there are some exceptions.
A few have expressed interest in developing blockchain technology, making it possible to transfer bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies without a third party involved.
Conclusion:
Bitcoin has many advantages over fiat money due to its decentralized nature and low transaction fees. This is why it’s gradually becoming popular among Polish merchants and investors. However, some issues still need to be resolved, such as lack of proper legislation, security concerns, and volatility.
