Poland CBDC Tracker

Poland is in the research phase. The Narodowy Bank Polski—Poland’s central bank—has been monitoring what other countries are doing. However, the central bank says it has not yet seen a need to pilot or launch a CBDC (referred to as a digital zloty).

Note: Although Poland is a member of the European Union, it is not a member of the Eurozone. This distinction means that Poland still uses its own national currency.

CBDC History and Development

In 2017, a Polish working report published a report on the development of financial innovations. The idea of a central bank digital currency was mentioned among the topics covered. The report described the “possibility of carrying out settlement in central bank money (ePLN?).” However, the report said that the Narodowy Bank Polski was not in favor of this idea. It added that, in the central bank’s opinion, “neither the legal requirements … nor the security considerations related to the immaturity of the distributed ledger technology that could be used to issue virtual currencies, allow for a positive attitude to the indicated postulate.”

Responding to an inquiry from the parliamentarians of the Left Party of the Polish Parliament in October 2020, Ministry of Finance official Piotr Nowak wrote a letter to explain where things stood for a Polish CBDC. Nowak said the government is monitoring what other countries are doing. However, he emphasized that “currently no work is being carried out to issue its own CBDC in Poland.”

In 2021, Narodowy Bank Polski governor Adam Glapiński said that the central bank is “monitoring closely the progress of work in the field of CBDC issuance worldwide in order to be able to take appropriate action also in Poland, should the need arise.” He made this statement alongside the publication of the central bank’s 103-page report on CBDC.

The central bank’s CBDC report primarily covers the basics of CBDCs and what other countries have done. However, the last third of the report offered some insights into what the Narodowy Bank Polski thought of CBDCs. Notably, the report said the central bank “has not identified [a] systemic objective for the issuance of digital zloty or any specific needs of consumers or business entities that could not be satisfied by payment service providers in Poland but only by the central bank through the introduction of CBDC.”

Recognizing the public may not be keen to read the entire report, the Narodowy Bank Polski also published an official stance that said, “The current circumstances in Poland do not justify the rationale behind the launching of the pilot tests on CBDC issuance or digital currency implementation by other central banks. Until now NBP has not identified a systemic objective for the issuance of digital zloty or any specific needs of consumers or business entities that could not be satisfied by payment service providers in Poland but only through the central bank through the introduction of CBDC. The results of the analyses conducted show no clear benefits from the introduction of central bank digital currency in Poland versus the identified risks related to its issuance for the economy, cash circulation and the financial system.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Poland earned an 80 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2024 Freedom in the World report. The report noted issues surrounding the treatment of human rights and civil liberties, but most of those issues do not directly relate to the issuance or use of a CBDC. Even then, however, it’s important to recognize that the creation of a CBDC could open the door to risks to financial privacy and freedom.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.