The General Inspector of Financial Information informs that the obligated institutions referred to in Art. 2.1.12 of the Act of 1 March 2018 on counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing (Journal of Laws 2023, item 1124, 1723, 1843 and 1285 - hereinafter: ‘the Act’), i.e. entities engaged in business activity consisting in the provision of services in the field of:

a) exchange between virtual currencies and means of payment,

b) exchange between virtual currencies,

c) brokering the exchange referred to in points (a) or (b);

d) keeping the accounts referred to in para 2 point 17(e) of the Act, i.e. a collection of identification data maintained in electronic form, providing authorised persons with a possibility to use virtual currency units, including performing transactions of their exchange,

(hereinafter: ‘virtual currency activities’)

carry out their activities on the basis of an entry in the register in the field of virtual currencies (Article 129m of the Act).

The above mentioned activity is a regulated activity within the meaning of the provisions of the Act of 6 March 2018 on entrepreneurs (Journal of Laws 2023, item 221, 641, 803 and 2029), which means that it can be performed after being entered in the relevant register. It should be emphasized that only an application and a statement from the entrepreneur is required to obtain the entry, that the data contained in the application is complete and true, and that the entrepreneur knows the conditions for conducting activities in the field of virtual currencies. The register established by the Act is therefore of a record-keeping nature, which means that an entry in the register cannot be equated with the granting of a licence and, therefore, the provision of any warranty.

The activity in the field of virtual currencies is not licensed or supervised (1) by the General Inspector of Financial Information. Entities established in Poland conducting activities in the field of virtual currencies and entered in the register of activities in the field of virtual currencies may be subject to control by the General Inspector of Financial Information regarding the performance of obligations in the field of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Entities not established in Poland and entered in the register of activities in the field of virtual currencies are not subject to control by the General Inspector of Financial Information and therefore their activities may be associated with a higher risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism. This should be taken into account when conducting business relations with such entities by obligated institutions, but also by their clients due to the higher risk of becoming victims of fraud.

The General Inspector of Financial Information also informs that there are no guaranteed deposits collected in virtual currencies in the accounts referred to in Article 2 par.2 point 17(e) of the Act. You can also read more about this in the information of the Office of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority available at the following link:

(https://www.knf.gov.pl/communication/communications?articleId=83761&p_id=18)

In view of the above, the General Inspector of Financial Information points out that entities operating in the field of virtual currencies do not have the right to include in commercial information, documents and websites information that they conduct activities licensed or supervised under Polish law.

Providing such information by the entrepreneur is an abuse, and using it in its marketing materials may be the basis for taking appropriate actions by the Polish authorities supervising business turnover for disseminating false information to consumers.

 

1. i.e., in the same manner as, for example, the supervision exercised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) over the banking sector, the capital market, the insurance and pension sectors, as well as over payment institutions, payment service offices, and electronic money institutions.