PKO Bank Polski provides two technological lines supporting a platform for communication with a Client, based on blockchain. One of them is a private blockchain based on a traditional data repository, i.e. a durable medium built in cooperation with Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa as the third trusted communication party. The bank is also working on platform based on a public blockchain network, which will be used to record other documents generated by the bank for customers.

The platform allowing the publication and authentication of documents is just one of the possible applications of blockchain technology in banking. The Blockchain Competence Center, tha has been established at the Bank, is working on new solutions based on this technology. Currently, R&D works are conducted in areas such as: payments, smart contracts, tokenization, ICO, interbank consortia, legal regulations. The ambition of the Center is also to search for new business models based on blockchain technology and to commercialize developed solutions.

Blockchain at PKO Bank Polski - the solution applied by the bank consists in introducing a carrier in the form of electronic banking in combination with a private blockchain network in Hyperledger Fabric technology and storing documents in a third-party archive (KIR S.A). The blockchain technology makes it possible to detect changes made to a document by recording in real time in a distributed network (DLT) metadata and the result of the document's shortcut function (HASH).

Shared databases - currently, information is stored on servers of the central institution that cares about their security. Sharing databases means that information in an encrypted form can be found on servers of all users, so that the risk of their stealing decreases to a minimum.

HASH – function that assigns to any large amount of data, so-called an irreversible abbreviation – a non-specific, quasi-random value with a fixed size. This function assigns a data (e.g. a file) to a series of characters (so-called Hash) on the basis of which the file can not be opened.

ICO - so-called Initial Coin Offering, which is the equivalent of IPO (entry into the stock exchange) in the world of blockchain. To collect funds for a project, the company issues tokens (a type of digital currency) and sells them to investors. Investors who believe in the development of the project hope that the tokens (in this case the equivalent of shares) will gain in value in the future.

Smart contracts – traditional contracts between two parties are created on a cause-and-effect basis, e.g. in case of a flood, the insurer pays the insurance. A smart contract transfers such a contract from a paper form to an electronic form and most importantly it fills in itself. In relation to the example - if the sensor sends information about flooding, insurance will be automatically transferred to the victim's account. In this way, there is no need to involve lawyers or other third parties.

Tokenization – transferring an analog form of, for example, a financial instrument to a digital form and recording information about it and the conditions of its possession in blockchain technology, using a smart contract.