Polish Financial Supervisory Commission and Central Bank warns against investing in cryptocurrencies
NBP and KNF in a joint communiqué warned on Friday against buying virtual currencies and investing in them.
They say possesing virtual currency brings many risks not only for the users but also for the financial institutions. National Bank of Poland and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority say that the purchase, possession and sale of virtual currencies by entities supervised by the Financial Supervision Authority would be high risk and would not ensure stable and prudent management of financial institutions, "- we can read in the communiqué.
NBP - Polish Central Bank
KNF - Polish Financial Supervisory Commission
NBP and KNF point out that "virtual" currencies are not issued or guaranteed by the central bank; they are not money, ie they are not legal tender or currency, they can not be used to pay tax liabilities and do not meet the criterion of universal acceptability. At the stores."
They are also not electronic money, do not fall within the scope of the Act of 19 August 2011 on payment services and the Act of 29 July 2005 on trading in financial instruments.
Both institutions recall that in recent years central banks and financial market regulators, including the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Banking Authority (EBA), have been concerned about the "virtual" currencies, their functioning and development.
"As defined by the European Banking Authority, virtual currencies are a digital representation of value not emanated by a central bank or a public body, not necessarily linked to the currency of a specific country but recognized by natural and legal means of payment that can be transferred"- informs the message.
The NBP and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority acknowledge that trading in cryptocurrencies in Poland does not violate national or EU law.
NBP and KNF albo calim that some of the forms of virtual currency investing "may have the character of a financial pyramid, which, in addition to the specific risk described above, may soon lead to a loss of investor funding."