Many people were, of course, inspired by Bitcoin – the pioneer of cryptocurrencies – after which some Poles started to create their own coins. Admittengly, some coins were created as a means of getting rich, while many others has more altrustic approach who decided to make a practical coin for universal or specific use (e.g. coins designed specifically for gambling and games). In the case of Poland, at least 3 altcoins emerged from the country in the past 12 months.
PolCoin
First, it was PolCoin (short: PLC). Its creators have simple goal: to free Polish citizens from national and world banks. "If the Polish Złoty can survive in shadow of Euro, PolCoin can survive in shadow of Bitcoin," is the crux of the creators’ ideology. And some small companies in Poland have seemingly supported this idea as they have started accepting payments in PLC.
PolishCoin
PolishCoin (PCC) is a cryptocurrency created by the Polish Coin Team. In the spirit of cryptography, the creators did not want to give out their real names and see themselves as contributors to society. With regards to PCC, the creator team stated:
"(...) Main reason that caused creation of PolishCoin is hailing polish traditions and natural beauty of it's original country. This coin (...) was created for Poland and it's citizens. We have great plans and hopes for it. (...) Let's create Polish Empire together in this world".
While the creators are definetly trying to play on the emotions and patriotism of its target audience, it remains to be seen just how much this premise will resonate with potential users.
Even with this issue, PCC is still considered to be the best Polish cryptocurency from the technical side as PolishCoin has an experienced programmer from an unnamed international corporation on its developers team.
PLNCoin
PLNCoin was created on March 17 of this year. The pre-mine of 2,000,000 PLNCoins was distributed to people willing to register on their website. This made it very popular in Poland, and even in some foreign countries. Over 16,000 accounts were created in a very short period. PLNCoin is compatible with Windows, Linux, Android and Macintosh. It's also accepted by some companies as a payment method (along with BTC and LTC). However, some analytics are warning of a possible "pump and dump," because pre-mining is generally considered as something negative and unfair for the average user.
Polish problems
Today, Poles have little knowledge about cryptocurencies. And unless they become educated on the topic and realize that using them is no less secure that using fiat, not many people will be lining up to try these fledgling altcoins. Nevertheless, Filip Pawczyński, Chairman of Polish Bitcoin Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Bitcoin), notes that Bitcoin and other cyrptocurrencies are becoming more popular and gaining traction in Poland with information becoming more widely available to the average citizen.