Another virtual currency will be “borne” today (17 July 2014) at noon. A Czech Crown Coin (the abbreviation used by the authors is “CZC”) as it is called, will be established. The announced amount of coins is 100 million and the currency will be, similarly to other virtual currencies, mined. The mining website will be opened at the same moment. Half of the total volume of CZCs has been already pre-mined, the other half should be mined within the next 4 to 10 years. The distribution of a limited number of free-of-charge coins to registered Czech citizens is announced to start in the first half of September 2014.

As other virtual currencies, CZC is not backed up by any bank or other financial institution and due to the strictly defined volume of coins in circulation and lack of state control it cannot suffer from inflation. The authors of the project have highlighted positive features of the CZC, being a de-centralised peer-to-peer currency, which are direct payments from the electronic valet of the CZC owner to all over the World, speed of the transaction, minimal transaction costs, anonymity of the payer. Although the virtual currency has another positive aspect, which is its ability to be kept or traded as an investment, one should not forget about the cons, such as no (state) guarantee, no refund if the password to electronic valet is lost or stolen, hacker’s attacks, publicity of the (although anonymous) transactions, unclear tax treatment for those participating in trading using the virtual currency either as means of payment or as a traded asset.

From the official website www.czechcrowncoin.com and from the press announcement it is not known who stands behind the project, but the authors claim their aim is to support Czech e-business. Interestingly, apart from the Czech, English and Russian versions of the website, the fourth language used is Chinese.

Should you need further information please do not hesitate to contact:

Petra Safkova
Office: +41 58 792 9543 or Email: petra.safkova@ch.pwc.com