Poland remains the only European Union member state yet to implement the bloc's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework, creating a critical situation for domestic crypto companies. The Polish parliament, the Sejm, has repeatedly failed to override presidential vetoes on a key crypto regulation bill, leaving the country without a domestic enabling act for MiCA as the July 1 transitional deadline rapidly approaches.
President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed the proposed Crypto-Asset Market Act twice—first in December 2025 and again in February 2026—citing concerns over "excessive, disproportionate and vague provisions" that he argued would harm small businesses. The government's attempts to reintroduce the identical bill were unsuccessful, with the Sejm failing to override the veto most recently on April 17, 2026.
The proposed Polish law, which included over 300 pages of draft regulations, faced significant criticism from industry groups. The Warsaw Enterprise Institute highlighted problematic elements, including "a ban on marketing activities related to basic cryptocurrencies and the possibility of blocking websites by administrative decision, without the right to appeal to a court." The law would also grant the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) sole regulatory power over the crypto market, including the authority to levy heavy fines and maintain a blacklist of domains for ISPs to block. Critics point to the KNF's notoriously slow authorization times, which a European Banking Authority review identified as the slowest in Europe.
The political impasse has created an existential crisis for Polish crypto firms. Without a MiCA-compliant legal framework by July 1, companies operating in Poland will be unable to serve EU clients legally. This has triggered an exodus, with Robert Wojciechowski, president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Blockchain and New Technologies, stating that "about 70-80 percent of companies have sailed abroad" since the chamber's founding. Companies are actively relocating to neighboring jurisdictions like the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, and Malta, which offer MiCA-friendly regimes with faster procedures and lower fees.
The situation illustrates a broader pressure point across the EU as the MiCA transition period concludes. Smaller firms face significant challenges due to the cost and complexity of compliance. Mateusz Kara, founder of Polish exchange Ari10—one of the few Polish firms to secure a MiCA license (in the Netherlands)—believes the regulatory burden leaves "no room for small players," predicting market consolidation. Of approximately 2,000 registered Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in Poland, only his group currently holds a MiCA license.
While regulators like the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) maintain that MiCA requirements are proportionate and designed to support innovation, the reality for many small and medium-sized enterprises is a race against time with limited resources. The deadlock in Poland has also become entangled in domestic politics, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk accusing local exchange Zonda Crypto of illicit funding and ties to Russian networks, further complicating the legislative environment.
With the July 1 deadline looming, Finance Minister Andrzej Domański has announced work on a new crypto-asset bill, but industry observers like Wojciech Piech see no "realistic chance" for timely passage. The consequence is clear: Polish crypto companies are voting with their feet, moving operations abroad to survive in the new EU regulatory landscape.
