Poland’s parliament revives controversial crypto bill despite presidential veto

Poland’s lower house of parliament,the Sejm, passed a sweeping bill to regulate the crypto industry, reviving legislation previously vetoed by President Karol Nawrocki and sending it to the Senate for further debate.

The Crypto-Asset Market Act, approved Thursday by 241 lawmakers in the Sejm, remains unchanged from the version struck down earlier this month, the Sejm’s press office told CoinDesk.

“The bill went through readings by the members of parliament on Thursday and it has been voted and approved by them and sent to the Senate, where they will debate and if they approve it goes to the president, if not, if they reject it, it comes back to the Sejm,” a spokesperson explained.

The bill is intended to align Polish law with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. But critics, including Nawrocki and members of Poland’s crypto industry, argue it goes significantly beyond EU standards, granting the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) broad enforcement powers, including website blocking and multimillion-zloty fines.

Nawrocki’s office cited the law’s ambiguity, overreach and high compliance costs as reasons for the initial veto, warning that the provisions could damage smaller firms and allow “one-click” domain shutdowns, an approach not taken by most EU countries. The bill’s size, over 100 pages, also drew criticism for being excessive compared with simpler implementations seen elsewhere in the region.

Despite the objections, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government reintroduced the law without revisions, portraying its passage as critical for national oversight of crypto markets. With the Senate now set to review the legislation, the bill may face another showdown with the president, who retains the power to veto it once more.