Poland becomes EU’s lone holdout after crypto law veto

Poland has ignited one of Europe’s fiercest crypto battles, after its president slammed the brakes on new digital-asset rules—leaving more than a million investors stuck between political crossfire and regulatory limbo.

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the country’s Crypto-Asset Market Act on Dec. 1, setting off a political firestorm and injecting uncertainty into a market with more than a million Polish crypto holders. Nawrocki said the bill posed “genuine threats” to civil liberties and handed excessive power to financial regulators—most notably the authority to block crypto-related websites with minimal oversight.

The vetoed legislation was intended to implement the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework domestically. But Poland’s draft ballooned to more than 100 pages—far longer than versions passed by countries like the Czech Republic, which needed just 12. Critics said the bill risked arbitrary censorship, imposed outsized supervision fees, and would choke off innovation by favoring foreign giants over Polish startups.

Finance Minister Andrzej Domański condemned the veto, accusing the president of embracing “chaos over accountability.” He argued that without proper regulation, consumers remain exposed to fraud, noting that one in five Polish crypto investors has already lost money to scams. Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski added that any future market turmoil would “have a clear political author.”

Poland’s crypto industry celebrates

Politician and crypto advocate Tomasz Mentzen said the bill would have driven businesses out of Poland, while economist Krzysztof Piech noted that MiCA will take effect across the EU on July 1, 2026 regardless—meaning Poland can still benefit from EU-wide protections without adopting an overly restrictive national version.

Industry leaders had long warned that the legislation went too far. In September, Zondacrypto CEO Przemysław Kral called it a regime of “excessive restrictions” that treated crypto as a threat, citing fines of up to 10 million zlotys and potential prison terms for some violations. Critics argued that the bill effectively criminalized basic activities such as smart contract development.

With the veto, Poland stands alone as the only EU state yet to implement MiCA. Lawmakers would need a three-fifths majority to override the president—a difficult threshold. If no authority is designated before July 2026, crypto firms may be forced to register elsewhere in the EU, diverting tax revenues abroad.

Opposition lawmaker Janusz Kowalski said his Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) party is ready to introduce its own “EU+0” MiCA implementation to keep the industry onshore.

“Poland can be a crypto hub,” he wrote on X. “Crypto companies should be registered in Poland and pay taxes in Poland.”

For now, the country’s crypto service providers will continue operating under existing anti–money-laundering rules as a high-stakes political showdown continues—with investors and startups left waiting for clarity on the future of digital asset regulation in Poland.