Background & Context: Poland in the Global Economy
6 min
poland’s economic trajectory & role in europe poland has transformed into one of europe’s fastest growing economies since joining the eu in 2004 its gdp per capita has more than doubled in real terms, closing the gap with western europe growth outlook (2025–26) imf (apr 2025) 3 2% ebrd (sep 2025) 3 5% oecd (feb 2025) 3 4% (2025), 3 0% (2026) eu commission (may 2025) 3 3% world bank (2025) 3% medium term baseline euro area average (2025) 0 9–1 1% poland is forecast to grow 3x faster than the euro area , cementing its role as an economic engine of central & eastern europe nominal gdp (2025) $980–1,000 billion (6th in eu, 20th worldwide) ppp gdp (2025) $2 0 trillion ( 19th globally) poland’s fiscal space, eu recovery funds, and strategic investments in energy, infrastructure, and digitalisation are key drivers of this growth investment & policy tailwinds the government is channeling major investments into infrastructure, green energy, digital transformation, and innovation to maintain convergence momentum reuters+1 moreover, poland leverages eu structural and recovery funds heavily, reinforcing its growth model reuters this position gives poland both credibility and ambition as a financial and technological hub in central & eastern europe macro & geo financial significance regional hub & capital flows poland’s geographic position, connections to both western europe and eastern peripheries, makes it a natural gateway for trade, capital, and financial flows across cee its success in attracting foreign direct investment, manufacturing relocation, and supply chain realignment gives it leverage thunes com+1 strategic autonomy & fintech sovereignty as the eu seeks more strategic independence in finance and digital infrastructure, poland — with infrastructure, scale, and digital readiness — is well placed to play a central role having a stablecoin issuer (olbra) anchored in poland can enhance financial sovereignty , reducing dependence on foreign digital currencies and jurisdictional risk digital growth multiplier effect digitalisation itself is a growth driver research shows that digitisation in poland contributes endogenously to gdp growth (productivity, new business models, service exports) open research europe as poland upgrades its digital infrastructure and regulation, it opens the door for frontier innovations — blockchain, tokenization, defi, etc monetary liquidity & capital markets a deepening domestic financial system provides the liquidity base for olbra’s stablecoin suite and tokenised assets money supply (nbp) m3 pln 2 606 trillion (jul 2025) m2 pln 2 609 trillion (aug 2025) government bonds (treasury bondspot poland) turnover pln 136 bn (jul 2025) , pln 131 bn (aug 2025) auction pipeline pln 6–10 bn per sale turnover growth +75% yoy in jul 2025 equities (warsaw stock exchange) 2024 turnover pln 331 4 bn (+20 8% yoy) h1 2025 pln 131 5 bn , +49% yoy 410 listed companies — largest stock exchange in cee these volumes demonstrate ample depth for tokenised rwas polish sovereign debt, equities, and corporate instruments digitalisation & payments adoption poland is one of the most advanced digital payment markets in europe card transactions h1 2024 pln 393 5 bn h2 2024 pln 396 2 bn 2024 total pln 790 bn blik mobile payments 2024 pln 172 6 bn value, 2 4 bn transactions h1 2025 1 4 bn transactions (+24% yoy) 18 5 m active users cashless pos share 32% (2016) → 65% (2023) → 69% (2024) 100% pos terminals support contactless 97 4% of issued cards are contactless mobile banking q2 2025 26 2 m active users (+16% yoy) 19 5 m mobile only (74% of users) poland is cashless by default, mobile first, and contactless everywhere — an ideal foundation for olbra’s stablecoins and payments ecosystem tech talent & digital competence poland has become a european powerhouse of digital talent , consistently supplying engineers and innovators to global leaders scale 600,000 it professionals — the largest talent pool in cee skill ranking top 3 globally in coding assessments (hackerrank) global investments google’s 2025 ai cooperation mou with poland; 2,000+ engineers in warsaw standout polish builders wojciech zaremba — co founder of openai , university of warsaw alum tomasz kajetan stańczak — founder of nethermind , now co executive director at the ethereum foundation paweł bylica — veteran ethereum core contributor, creator of evmone klarna warsaw hub (2024) 100+ polish engineers building global fintech infrastructure this ecosystem proves poland’s capacity to design, build, and govern frontier technologies — ai, l1/l2 infrastructure, fintech rails long term outlook to 2035 while short term cycles matter, investors and policymakers must consider poland’s structural trajectory baseline projections (2026–2035) conservative 2 0% p a (demographic drag, global slowdown) baseline 2 5% p a (balanced productivity & investment) optimistic 3 0% p a (strong tech adoption, eu integration, reforms) cumulative growth 2026–2035 conservative +21 9% baseline +28 4% optimistic +34 4% implication by 2035, poland’s real gdp could be 1 3× larger than 2025 with inflation, nominal gdp could more than double , placing poland among the world’s top 15 economies this macro trajectory aligns with olbra’s mission building financial infrastructure today for a significantly larger and richer poland of 2035 strategic implications for olbra finance liquidity base with pln 2 6 trillion in money supply , monthly government bond turnover of pln 130 billion , and equity turnover above pln 330 billion , poland provides deep underlying markets for tokenisation plny and tokenised bonds can capture even a small % of this liquidity , translating into billions of pln in on chain value digital rails & user adoption 26 million mobile banking users and 18 5 million blik users create a ready made digital native audience nearly 1 trillion pln in annual digital payments (cards + blik) represent an addressable flow that can gradually migrate into olbra’s stablecoins for faster, cheaper, programmable settlement cashless by default 100% contactless enabled terminals and 97% contactless cards reduce friction for card + stablecoin interoperability revenue potential stablecoin issuance capturing just 5% of pln m2 ( pln 130 billion) as plny supply could position olbra as one of europe’s largest stablecoin issuers, generating consistent fee and float income defi lending & dex trading poland’s fx corridors (pln/eur/usd) already see hundreds of billions in annual volume off chain; shifting even 1–2% on chain creates sustainable fee pools tokenised rwas government bonds alone turn over pln 130b per month ; offering tokenised access opens the door to global investors seeking regulated yield , with significant spread and custody revenue payments with pln 1t in annual card & mobile payments , even a 2–3% share routed through olbra’s rails equates to tens of billions pln in transaction value , driving interchange, settlement, and stablecoin adoption tech competence poland’s world class developer talent (openai, ethereum foundation, klarna alumni) ensures olbra can design, audit, and scale frontier infrastructure with credibility growth story by 2035, poland’s real gdp will be 30% larger , nominal gdp potentially doubled , and the population wealthier and more digitally integrated olbra, as the issuer of plny/eury/usdy, can ride this structural growth curve as the trusted gateway to poland and eastern europe’s digital economy
