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KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI took part in the Idea Growth Power Lunch Summit on i-gaming and sports betting

On September 13 and 14, 2021, KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI took part in two webinars, organised by Idea Growth (https://ideagrowth.org/), concerning the broadly understood i-gaming and sports betting, which are one of the core specializations of technology sector of KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI. Each of the webinars had the form of a short 1-hour condensed session conducted by the experts of the above-mentioned fields.

On Monday, September 13, 2021, the first webinar addressed “the imperative of advertising to acquire customers while respecting various state laws and prioritizing responsible gaming practices.”

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Electronic currency volatility in the recent El Salvador case

The bitcoin currency has been experiencing its peak moments for a long time. Many consider bitcoin to be an easy way to earn money, and others consider it to be the “currency of the future”. Unfortunately, this view may be in future verified, as can be seen on the example of the Republic of El Salvador.

On September 7, 2021, El Salvador officially adopted bitcoin as an official and legal tender, making the cryptocurrency an accepted means of exchange for goods and services. The euphoria and optimism related to the changes did not last long, because on the same day, there was a huge drop in the value of bitcoin. Within moments on Tuesday, September 7, bitcoin’s value plunged 17% and ended its decline on Wednesday by around 10%. Other digital assets also fell. According to Kraken (the cryptocurrency exchange in general), Cardano’s token (ADA) and the second largest cryptocurrency, Ether, fell 18% and around 13% respectively. (As of September 8 at 5:00 p.m.).

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Risks of foreign investments in Polish technology start-ups

publication date: September 30, 2021text updated on January 23, 2023

It is currently accepted that only 5% of start-ups in the technology industry are successful. This fact means that, in principle, the investor has as much as a 95% risk of losing money. However, if the investment turns out to work with no failure the investors may gain millions.

The more innovative the subject matter the bigger the risk

A good example of a risky investment is a highly discussed case of Elizabeth Holmes. She is the founder of  biotech start-up, Theranos. The main concept of her business was to create a blood-testing method which promises to detect a range of illnesses with just a prick on the fingertip. She based her business idea on her fear of needles. One device would replace professional laboratory machines. The technology was supposed to revolutionize the healthcare industry. As this idea seemed futuristic and  innovative it is no surprise that it seduced many high-profile investors that invested millions into this business.  Silicon Valley investors have poured more than $200 million into projects in the past years to build a device that analyzes blood – according to ‘Financial Times’. However, in 2015 it emerged the blood-testing devices did not work and Theranos was doing most of its testing on commercially available machines made by other manufacturers. The company shut down three years later. Numerous problems have arisen since then. The invention gave false results, resulted to undetected diseases. As it later turned out, it was not the machine that tested the samples, but a team of people appointed to do so. The machine was only an object of advertising and marketing. Now Ms. Holmes faces 12 fraud charges and she is accused of deceiving investors and patients with defrauding investors through a ‘sophisticated, multi-year fraud’.

The business obtained one of its first financings in 2004 from a well-known investor from Silicon Valley, Tim Draper. Theranos founder began collaboration with former senior U.S. government officials to serve on the board of directors. Among them were: George Shultz (former Secretary of Labor, Treasury, and State of the US government), Gen. James Mattis (US Secretary of Defense), Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), William Perry (former Secretary of Defense), Betsy DeVos (US Secretary of Education) and many other successful individuals.

It sounds surprising that highly respectable, influential people did not even ask Holmes for detailed financial analysis and accurate product information. They have lost millions of dollars because of being too superficial in their due diligence.  

Polish tech and software start-up scene

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Escrow agreements for the acquisition of source codes and licenses for their use

Technology transfer agreements as well as investment agreements are often accompanied by source code escrow agreements used to secure the IP rights to the software.

Source code

The key of programs and software is the source code. It is the fundamental component of a computer program that is created by a programmer.  The source code should be written using a human-readable programming language – usually plain text. The main goal of it is to set exact rules and specifications for the computer that can be translated into the machine’s language.

What is source code escrow?

Sometimes it happens that even if special software tailored to one’s needs is created by a professional company, problems may arise. The investor needs to make every effort to protect company in the event that the contractor’s company ceases to exist, for example because of its bankruptcy or liquidation. In such cases, the solution to secure the transfer of ownership of the source code is to put in place source code escrow agreement. This is a service that helps protect all parties involved in a software licence by having a neutral, independent third party escrow agent hold the source code. 

Main principles of source code escrow

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MINING POOLS – How to get a cryptocurrency?

KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI KG LEGAL constantly supervises and prepares its lawyers for the specialization in which they provide services for foreign clients. In order to systematize the conceptual grid of very specialized fields of IT, telecommunications, biology, medicine and modern finance, KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI conducts internal consultations to improve the experience of our lawyers specializing in legal assistance for foreign clients from the IT and TECH sector. As a result of such internal research, KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI creates and publishes texts on topics related to modern legal problems, but also to explain the basic concepts of specialized IT and pharmaceutical fields. In this way, KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI aims to demonstrate to potential clients within specialized industries that our lawyers are also familiar with specialist terms necessary for a proper understanding of our foreign client’s business and legal needs.

This is one of those texts. We invite you to read it.

How to get a cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is not emitted by some central, national bank as it happens with classical form of money (fiat money). Cryptocurrency is made in a digital sphere and the only way to obtain the currency from the blockchain system is to mine it (similarly and metaphorically to the gold mining). Cryptocurrency mining works similarly to the gold mining. Virtual coins can be discovered digitally using computer programs. The Bitcoin, for instance, has set a limit of total of 21 million bitcoins. Thus the faster you dig bitcoins the more of them you will have (if we consider only mining). All bitcoins are lying within the blockchains system and the role of the computer program and the miners is to dig it from that system, precisely to discover it in that system. Thereby there can be one miner or a clubbed miners’ group who dig together, faster and more effectively and then they divide their profits among each other.

What is a mining pool?

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