Presidential candidate pledges to create “strategic bitcoin reserve” in Poland

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A candidate in Poland’s presidential elections, which will take place in May next year, has pledged that he will turn the country into a “cryptocurrency haven” if he comes to power, including creating a “strategic bitcoin reserve”.

Sławomir Mentzen is the candidate for Confederation (Konfederacja), a far-right nationalist group that generally holds libertarian economic positions. It has only 18 MPs in Poland’s 460-seat parliament but has recently been running third in polls, with support of around 12%.

On Sunday, a Polish cryptocurrency commentator asked Mentzen on X whether he would, as president, seek to create a strategic bitcoin reserve in Poland, as was proposed in the US by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaign.

“Of course,” replied Mentzen, who then in a separate post on X wrote (in English): “Poland should create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.”

“If I become the President of Poland, our country will become a cryptocurrency haven, with very friendly regulations, low taxes, and a supportive approach from banks and regulators,” he added.

In a further post, now writing again in Polish, Mentzen noted that when he was running for mayor of the Polish city of Toruń in 2018, he had proposed that municipal offices and schools should be used to “mine” bitcoin, with the heat generated helping to heat the buildings.

Bitcoin “mining” is a process for validating transactions involving the cryptocurrency and for maintaining the blockchain that records them. It involves large amounts of computational power that also generates heat.

Mentzen noted that, at the time he made his proposal, the price of bitcoin was around $7,000 whereas it now stands at almost $100,000. “People looked at me like I was crazy, but time has shown that I was right then and that it was a very good idea.”

“Now I am running for president of Poland and I propose that Poland should keep part of its currency reserves in bitcoins,” continued Mentzen. “This may seem abstract to someone now, but in a few years it will turn out again that it was a completely obvious decision to make.”

“It is high time for Polish politicians to look to the future, and not just deal with the past,” concluded the politician. “We do not have to imitate others forever. We can finally set new directions ourselves and be role models for others. Poles deserve a modern state!”

Financial news service Bankier.pl notes that Mentzen’s financial declaration as a member of parliament shows that he owns 33.7 bitcoins, which at current prices are worth over $3 million. He has said he first bought bitcoin in 2013, when its price stood at around $600.

One of the 20 points in Mentzen’s presidential programme is “freeing cryptocurrencies”. He promises to “ensure that Poland has the most cryptocurrency-friendly law in the entire EU, thanks to which we will become a European hub for companies in this industry”.

However, he has not yet outlined specifically what policies he would pursue to make Poland a “cryptocurrency haven”. Moreover, his chances of implementing them are slim in any case.

Not all parties have declared their presidential candidates for 2025, so polling is currently limited. However, Mentzen is not regarded as among the favourites. Even if he were to win, Poland’s president has little power to create policy.

Legislation is largely the responsibility of the government and parliament, which are controlled by a ruling coalition ranging from left to centre-right that is generally hostile towards Confederation and its policies.

In July, while campaigning for the US presidential election, Trump pledged to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a bitcoin “strategic reserve”. After he won the election, the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Aleks Szczerbiak is Professor of Politics at the University of Sussex. The original version of this article appeared here.

Main image credit:Traxer/Unsplash

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.