Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies - Legal and Tax Aspects

• Autorzy: Tomasz Słapczyński
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

The main objective of the paper is to provide an answer to the question whether new technologies such as blockchain that enter various spheres of public life are safe for users and what impact they have on national legislations. Cryptocurrencies, which are based on blockchain technology, can be used as a means of payment, investment or capital accumulation. Therefore, blockchain becomes more and more popular. The main research method used in the paper consists of the analysis of legislation and jurisprudence as well as linguistic and purposive interpretation which affects the functioning of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The introductory part of the paper contains a general historical outline and basic principles related to blockchain technology. Real and potential threats posed by the discussed technology are also discussed in the paper as well as the question whether governments or, more broadly, the international community, offer sufficient level of protection against risks related to the use of new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Using blockchain to streamline logistic activities or to speed up transactions is useful in itself, but in the hands of private entities the technology may pose a risk of losing funds if not properly secured. The financial market is and should be supervised and controlled by the state which is the guarantor of economic freedom. Another vital question is whether legislators keep up with the advances in technology. It seems that the development of blockchain technology triggers development of new legal regulations. The more blockchain technology enters everyday life, the more legal documents appear in the form of case law, legal provisions, opinions etc. The role of these documents is to regulate, define and specify new technologies as they appear.(original abstract)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Cryptocurrencies; Blockchain technology; Bitcoin; Financial law

PL

Kryptowaluty; Technologia blockchain; Bitcoin; Prawo finansowe

• Czasopismo: Scientific Journal of Bielsko-Biala School of Finance and Law
• Rocznik: 2019
• Numer: nr 1
• Strony: 31--36

Twórcy

autor

Tomasz Słapczyński

• Jagiellonian University

Bibliografia

• 1. Agreement on the creation of the International Monetary Fund, concluded at Bretton Woods on 22 July 1944 (Journal of Laws 1948 No. 40 item 290, as amended) and the Act of 31 December 1945 on the ratification of treaties on the International Monetary Fund and the International Monetary Fund Bank for Reconstruction and Economic Development, signed in Bretton Woods on 22 July 1944 (Journal of Laws 1946 No. 2 item, as amended).
• 2. Anon, (2018). Definicja kryptowaluty w polskiej ustawie. Co to oznacza?. [online] Available at: http://prawoblockchain.pl/index.php/2018/03/07/pierwsza-definicja-kryptowaluty/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
• 3. Atzori, M. (2015). Blockchain technology and decentralized governance: Is the state still necessary?. Working Paper. [online] Available at: http://nzz-files-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files/9/3/1/blockchain+Is+the+State+Still+Necessary_1.18689931.pdf, [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 4. Barber, S., Boyen, X., Shi, E. and Uzun, E. (2012). Bitter to better-how to make Bitcoin a better currency. In: International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security. [online] Heidelberg: Springer, pp.399-414. Available at: http://elaineshi.com/docs/Bitcoin.pdf, [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 5. Buterin, V. (2014). A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform. [online] Available at: https://www.intgovforum.org/cms/wks2015/uploads/proposal_background_paper/SSRN-id2580664.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 6. Croman, K., Decker, C., Eyal, I., Gencer, A., Juels, A., Kosba, A., Miller, A., Saxena, P., Shi, E., Gun Sirer, E., Song, D. and Wattenhofer, R. (2016). On scaling decentralized blockchains. 3rd Workshop on Bitcoin Research (BITCOIN), Barbados. Available at: https://fc16.ifca.ai/Bitcoin/papers/CDE+16.pdf, [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 7. Crosby, M., Pattanayak, P., Verma, S. and Kalyanaraman, V. (2016). Blockchain technology: Beyond Bitcoin. Applied Innovation Review, [online] pp.6-19. Available at: https://j2-capital.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AIR-2016-Blockchain.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 8. Fairfield, J. (2014). Smart contracts, Bitcoin bots, and consumer protection. https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=wlulr-online. [Accessed 1 May 2018].
• 9. Federal Bureau of Investigation (2012). Bitcoin virtual currency: intelligence unique features present distinct challenges for deterring illicit activity. European Central Bank (2012). Virtual Currency Schemes. [online] Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 10. Finanse.mf.gov.pl. (2018). podatki.gov.pl - Portal Podatkowy. [online] Available at: https://www.finanse.mf.gov.pl/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=589b1960-46fd-41f2-bf17-4adf96ae2e13&groupId=764034 [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
• 11. Glaser, F. (2017). Pervasive decentralisation of digital infrastructures: a framework for blockchain enabled system and use case analysis. In: 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. [online] HICSS. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/859d/0535e16095f274df4d69df54954b21258a13.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 12. Glaser, F., Zimmermann, K., Haferkorn, M., Weber, M. and Siering, M. (2014). Bitcoin-asset or currency? Revealing users' hidden intentions. In: the 22nd European Conference on Information Systems. [online] ECIS. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2425247 [Accessed 28 May 2018].
• 13. Goldman Sachs (2016). Profiles in Innovation - Blockchain. [online] Available at: http://www.the-blockchain.com/docs/Goldman-Sachs-report-Blockchain-Putting-Theory-into-Practice.pdf [Accessed 28 May 2018].
• 14. Knf.gov.pl. (2018). Information on the functioning of cryptocurrency exchanges. [online] Available at: https://www.knf.gov.pl/?articleId=61994&p_id=18 [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
• 15. Lewenberg, Y., Sompolinsky, Y. and Zohar, A. (2015). Inclusive block chain protocols. In: International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security. [online] Heidelberg: Springer, pp.528-547. Available at: https://fc15.ifca.ai/preproceedings/paper_101.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 16. Luther, W. and White, L. (2014). Can Bitcoin become a major currency?. Working Paper. [online] Available at: http://bahler.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Can-Bitcoin-Become-a-Major-Currency.pdf [Accessed 28 May 2018].
• 17. Sejm, (2018). Government bill on counteracting money laundering and financing of terrorism. [online] Available at: http://www.sejm.gov.pl/sejm8.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?id=A905E48ECE0F86EFC125822B00517DAA [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
• 18. Szabo, N. (1997). Smart contracts: formalizing and securing relationships on public networks. [online] Available at: http://firstmonday.org/article/view/548 [Accessed 30 May 2018].
• 19. Technologia Blockchain i jej potencjał w podatkach. (2017). [online] Deloitte. Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/pl/pl/pages/tax/articles/blockchain-technology.html [Accessed 1 Jan. 2019].
• 20. The Act of 23 April 1964 Civil Code. Consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2014, item 121, as amended.
• 21. The Act of 29 August 1997 on the National Bank of Poland. Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1373, as amended.
• 22. The Act of July 26, 1991 on personal income tax. Journal of Laws of 1991 No. 80 item 350, as amended.
• 23. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997. Journal of Laws 1997 No. 78 item 483.
• 24. Woolf, N. (2019). What Could Blockchain Do for Politics?. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/s/welcome-to-blockchain/what-could-blockchain-do-for-politics-de3942d8edda [Accessed 1 Jan. 2019].
• 25. Zyskind G, Nathan O, Pentland A. (2015) Decentralizing privacy: Using blockchain to protect personal data. In Security and Privacy Workshops (SPW), pp 180-184. Available at: https://enigma.co/ZNP15.pdf, [Accessed 1 May 2018].

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.5604/01.3001.0013.2653