Poland Fails to Implement MiCA; Crypto Firms Moving Abroad

Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, again failed to override President Karol Nawrocki’s veto on a crypto regulation bill, leaving the country the only EU member state without a domestic law to implement the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The transitional period under MiCA ends on July 1, and some Polish crypto firms are seeking licences and relocating to other EU states ahead of that date.

The Sejm approved the Crypto-Asset Market Act in November 2025 to align Polish law with MiCA. President Nawrocki vetoed the bill on Dec. 1, 2025, calling it overly broad and burdensome. The government reintroduced the same text, the president vetoed it again in February, and on April 17 the legislature failed once more to overturn the veto.

The draft law runs to more than 300 pages including proposed secondary regulations. It includes provisions that would make the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the KNF, the sole regulator for crypto activity, give the KNF powers to impose fines and to order internet service providers to block domains listed as “unreliable,” and introduce marketing restrictions for some basic cryptocurrencies. Critics of the draft say some measures exceed MiCA’s requirements.

Industry groups and business think tanks warned about the scale and detail of the bill. The Warsaw Enterprise Institute flagged the length of the draft and the inclusion of administrative powers to block websites without court appeal. The KNF’s record on licensing has also been cited as a concern; a European peer review found Polish authorization times among the slowest in the EU and noted few licences issued in recent years.

Political divisions have produced several competing proposals. Parties and coalitions including Polska 2050, the Confederation of Liberty and Independence, Law and Justice, and the Center Club have put forward alternative drafts. President Nawrocki has said he would submit his own bill, but the Sejm speaker has blocked introduction of presidential drafts. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański has said the government has begun work on a new proposal.

Some established Polish exchanges and service providers are already preparing to move operations to EU states with clearer MiCA implementation. Kanga Exchange has explored Latvia, citing faster procedures, lower supervisory fees and a more direct path to MiCA compliance. The presidential chancellery warned that heavy regulation could push firms to the Czech Republic, Lithuania or Malta.

Robert Wojciechowski, president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Blockchain and New Technologies, noted that about 70 to 80 percent of companies associated with the chamber have moved abroad since its founding, and that many are now in talks with the Czech Republic.

Przemysław Kral, chief executive of Zonda Crypto, said: “Although we are a company with Polish roots and the largest player in the Polish market, we have been operating outside Poland for years. We are confident we will remain a key player, but many small Polish crypto companies will lose the opportunity to operate on the market.”

The debate has been affected by allegations of illicit finance involving Zonda raised by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Zonda experienced a funding crisis and paused withdrawals; the exchange’s founder, Sylwester Suszek, disappeared in 2022. These events have been cited in arguments for tighter oversight.

Legal and business advisers say the window to secure a domestic route to MiCA compliance before July 1 is closing. An analyst named Piech assessed that a new law could still matter for banks and larger institutions, but for many existing Polish crypto firms it may now be too late to rely on a Polish route. After July 1, firms without a functioning Polish compliance path will no longer be able to use Polish transitional arrangements and are likely to pursue registration or operations in other member states.