Poland and the cost of Misinformation

Not all countries are as quick on the uptake as the United States for embracing Blockchain technology, and Poland has taken an interesting turn in its odd campaign surrounding cryptocurrency. The minister of finance in Poland, along with most other European countries, was cautiously neutral about Bitcoin in 2015, but it wasn’t until February of last year that cryptocurrency exchange was officially recognized in the country.

This might have to do with the fact that Poland couldn’t stop the currency from being spent by its citizens.

So, in March of 2017 the Polish government worked to promote digitization of the national cryptocurrency market, to tempt startups to establish themselves in a friendly investment climate.

As a result of an incredibly welcoming and liberal banking system, many popular cryptocurrency businesses have since moved to Poland. There are numerous benefits to having a proverbial Silicon Valley of crypto located in your country, and with a decentralized currency that doesn’t require infrastructure and can be traded ultrafast, Poland was poised to be a powerful player in European cryptocurrency. In fact, there was talk of Poland developing a national cryptocurrency, but the minister of digitization pulled out of the project, stating that issues of money trading were outside of its jurisdiction, and that they are no longer doing any research on cryptocurrencies.

Poland may not have called down a final judgment on cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology, but there were numerous signs arguing positive feelings, not just the effective neutrality seen in most of the continent. It’s strange then, that the country should go so far as to smear crypto in a badly-hidden campaign.

The Surprise

The National Polish Bank launched a project under the guise of an “educational campaign” essentially paying Youtubers to smear cryptocurrencies for Polish viewers. The institution forked out thousands of dollars to vloggers and commenters to slander Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without actually providing any educational information to the public. In a Cointelegraph interview with Youtuber Karol Paciorek, there was a product deal between the NPB and the three largest channels. To  Marcin Dubiel (937,000 subs), Wiśnia  (818,000 subs) and Planeta Faktów (1,000,000 subs), the government organization paid out $21,000.

A huge issue, alongside the fact that this campaign didn’t actually educate the public, is that there was no indication that the slanderous content was sponsored, let alone by the NPB.

So three terribly-marketed smear campaigns set off at the same time, from three different, popular channels. The campaigns were almost identical, and not at all in the style of each Youtuber, leading viewers to wonder at the authenticity of the “educational programing”.

It goes beyond a comedic sketch of a twenty-something pretending that “Bitcoin stole all his money”. The move made by Poland’s Central Bank may actually be illegal, as far as deliberately and subversively misleading its citizens. Having a lack of access to English language info could contribute to a narrow flow of data input, and has the possibility of making Poland particularly susceptible to propaganda of this sort.

What To Take From This

Poland has a confusing relationship with cryptocurrency. The National Polish Bank obviously sees value in crypto, but they might be unsure of the potential risks and rewards for their citizenry. The lack of control and the relative modernity of Blockchain technology was seen as unsettling, but the campaign was so badly done that it’s unsure where Poland stands. Ironically, so much of cryptocurrency gets traded for information: correct information. So, the NPB may have missed the mark with the smear campaign.

Real-world traditional assets can be exchanged in the crypto market, but it goes deeper than that, encompassing entire sub-economies. People can exchange work and time for crypto without ever affecting a country’s GDP or interacting with its banks, and that’s something that can cause worry to any country.

It’s almost the fear of the unknown.

But to move beyond the expensive and fraught scenario of Bitcoin for a moment, there are other currencies being traded more directly and affordably.

Snovio is a decentralized lead generation platform carving out a niche in the competitive world of data collection. The company has set up an economy that rewards correct information (not like the NPB), and pays its researchers with SNOV tokens.

Essentially, it combines SaaS and marketplace models to properly incentivize researchers to source company and professional data.

Because of the 200+ new users joining every day, and the 20,000+ already on the Chrome extension, the leads generated are always up to date, and the entire database is continually and efficiently maintained in the same way that Wikipedia stays current.

In the world of outdated list searches, database management, and purchasing of “quality leads”, there is always a supply of emails and contacts that are either out of date or completely false. Additionally, these lead lists are often sold to multiple companies one after the other, making it so that one’s own approach is stale before the first email is sent.

And So

As cryptocurrency continues to fluctuate throughout markets and across borders, many industries, including national banks and public companies, will be faced with challenges. In the NPB’s example, the first stage was denial and choosing to remain neutral to the change. When confronted with a concerning oscillation, they opted for a defensive, and ultimately foolish maneuver, and it remains to be seen how the country’s banks will act moving forward.

In the information age, as we continue to trade our time and efforts for varying currencies across the globe and at the speed of light, the industry of database management and company research, naturally, is also changing. The strong survive and adapt, taking advantage of the resources that are available and exploiting interesting niches that continue to propel the market. Cryptocurrencies are not going to disappear, and while many of us missed the chance to get on board Bitcoin at the beginning, it might be worthwhile to invest our time and efforts in companies like Snovio to secure our own fortunes and success.