The Financial Supervision Authority has announced a historical event for Poland - it has granted its first ever license for a company to operate as an electronic money institution. The license was issued for Billon Solutions, a company that belongs to the Warsaw-based Billon group. The Financial Supervision Authority had previously granted several dozen permissions to operate as a national payment institution, but never as an electronic money institution. Such a license is considered more important than a national payment institution license.

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This is also an exceptional event because Billon offers services that make use of blockchain technology. One of its products is a mobile payment system that replaces złoty with a digital equivalent. The product has been on the market for a few years, but it has not been able to break through to a wider audience, partly because the supervisor is not very favorable of any activity related to cryptocurrencies - and the market wasn't really able to distinguish Billon's services from, say, bitcoin. The Financial Supervision Authority's decision will definitely help the Polish fintech company. Billon had previously been granted a license in London.

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While announcing the new permission for Billon, the supervisor said that it supports the development of innovative financial services by adapting new fintech technologies. The announcement suggests that Billon took part in the Innovation Hub (a project launched last year with the purpose of supporting companies in applying for permissions), which helped in the successful outcome of the licensing process. - An exchange of information between the Financial Supervision Authority and the prospective applicant during the pre-licensing stage helps to better understand their particular case - states the announcement.