newtech.law - legal aspects of new technologies

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies based on it continue to fire the imagination. It’s no surprise that more and workers, particularly in IT, are interested in being paid in crypto. But is it permissible in Poland to pay workers and contractors in this form?

Crypto as a new employee benefit

According to various estimates, there is a shortage of about 50,000 IT specialists in Poland. So there is a pitched battle underway on the market to recruit and retain experienced programmers, forcing companies to offer various benefits to attract IT talent. Meanwhile, in Poland and around the world, despite huge declines in the value of cryptocurrencies in 2018–2020 (a period dubbed “crypto winter”) and again in recent weeks, the interest in digital currencies continues to grow. These trends are combining to cause more and more employers, particularly in the FinTech sector, to consider offering staff a portion of their salary in cryptocurrency or giving the choice of the currency in which they will receive their salary—fiduciary money or digital.

Staking-as-a-service (StaaS) providers are steadily growing on the crypto-assets market along with the increasing popularity of decentralised networks based on the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. The growing profile of StaaS providers also raises legal questions about the nature of these business models and the regulatory risk associated with them. In this article we examine one of these risks: the risk of treating the activity of StaaS providers as the activity of an alternative investment fund (AIF).

It has long been obvious that within the next few years we would witness attempts to regulate the world of decentralised finance. As it turns out, one of the most revolutionary laws may be introduced through an amendment to an obscure regulation on information accompanying money transfers.

I’m referring to the proposed changes to Regulation (EU) 2015/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on information accompanying transfers of funds—also known as WTR2. It is part of a broader package of regulations aimed at combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism. The main aim of WTR2 is to ensure that money transfers are accompanied by relevant information enabling identification of the parties to the transaction.

Last year regulators in the EU devoted a lot of attention to cookie files and other tracking technologies used on websites. This interest was generated among other sources by numerous complaints filed by NOYB—European Center for Digital Rights in the last year with data protection authorities, and has resulted in guidance and several decisions issued by regulators in recent months (e.g. in Austria, Belgium and France). Because they may shape the future approach of regulators to the use of cookies, it is worth discussing some of the main conclusions flowing from these decisions.

The world pins high hopes on the development of artificial intelligence systems. AI is expected to generate huge economic and social benefits across various aspects of life and sectors of the economy, including the environment, agriculture, healthcare, finances, taxes, mobility, and public administration.

The progressing development of AI systems is forcing the creation of appropriate legal frameworks, which on one hand should facilitate further growth of AI technologies but on the other hand should ensure adequate protection of persons using such systems and raise societal confidence in the operation of AI systems.

On 30 November 2021, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the final wording of a draft Data Governance Act (DGA) (COM/2020/767 final).

The aim of the proposal is to promote the availability of data and to build a trustworthy environment facilitating the use of data (both person and non-personal) for research and creation of innovative new products and services. It is also intended to create a legal framework for easier sharing of data and mechanisms facilitating re-use of certain data held by the public sector, including data involving health, agriculture and the environment.