The scandal with the New Year's zloty exchange rate. Minister vs. Google

A 20% change in the currency rate on a day off? This almost never happens in the currency market. Especially when the war did not break out, there was no gigantic terrorist attack or equally important, shocking events. And yet. On January 1, 2024, the euro and dollar suddenly became 20% more expensive, although only in the data shown by Google. Fortunately, the banking and currency markets were closed at that time, but trading was possible in some companies. Some people made money on it.

- This is unacceptable. We will demand from companies that such situations do not occur – emphasizes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski.

Let us remind you: on January 1, 2024, financial data, especially currency rates, were incorrectly displayed in the Google search engine. The zloty suddenly became 20-30% more expensive compared to most currencies. Poles were shocked primarily by the exchange rate to the euro and dollar. This aroused surprise and fear primarily among people who have loans in foreign currencies. Such a change would result in a sudden change in the installment required to be paid.

USD/PLN exchange rate on January 1, 2024 on the Google website.

It quickly turned out to be an error and the quotes were removed from Google's website. Well, maybe not so quickly, because the smarter ones managed to make money on it. They bought euros and dollars at the real exchange rate and sold them on sites that allowed it. Among them were, among others: giełda kryptowalut Coinbase i Bybit. As it turned out, they used the same data as Google.

Did they make money on the inflated exchange rate or not?

There were many people who decided to take advantage of this loophole. Money started circulating between Revolut, Binance, Coinbase and ByBit. Finally, ByBit has disabled the possibility of trading on PLN pairs.

What about the profits of people who caught this mistake while on holiday? There is unconfirmed information circulating on the Internet that the next day ByBit began to reverse transactions and withdraw the entire profit from arbitrage transactions from the accounts. Based on what recipe? This has not been explained, but the trading community leaves no stone unturned on the stock exchange, writing that if they offered such a rate, it was their mistake and they should pay for it. After all, in the event of large fluctuations, e.g. on the cryptocurrency market, they do not intend to take anyone's profits?

– For me, this is a clear signal to escape from such a stock exchange. Congratulations to the clever ones. It was possible to make 5-7 circles. There may be a lot missing for other customers. If the stock exchange reverses the transaction, run away!!! then they can deny everything - emphasizes Paweł Szwajcar, a well-known trader in the community.

Google: It's not our fault

After all the confusion Ministry of Finance called on Google to provide explanations on this matter. The tech giant was quick to provide them, but they are so perfunctory that they are downright dismissive.

– We are not directly responsible for this error. This is the result of external data provided by us, which we do not verify – we read in a short statement.

This outraged representatives of the Polish authorities.

– I'm not satisfied. Content should be checked, and such a simple and laconic answer, indicating that Google does not check it but only provides it, shows that no one takes responsibility for it. If large streaming and internet platforms say that they provide content from some source, but do not fully check it, it will end even worse in the future. Here we had a case where there was no great market confusion, but I can imagine other data that can affect the economy, people or society -  said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski on RMF FM.

There will be a new law, Google must apply itself

Currently, there are no clear and transparent legislative solutions that would force Google and other companies to verify data. But regulations are already being implemented that will change this.

– In Poland we will implement, among others: Digital Services Act (DSA), i.e. the Digital Services Act, which will concern, among others, the issue of disinformation. This is the first step to prevent such situations from occurring. We will have a regulator who will be able to turn to the company and say that its algorithm does not work and that it should improve it immediately  – adds Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski.