Polish lawmakers approved bills regulating cryptocurrency markets, introduced major restrictions and established dedicated supervisory authorities.
The Polish parliamentary House of Representatives, SEJM, voted in favor of the new Crypto Asset Market Act last Friday and sent the bill to the Senate for consideration.
Bill 1424, which has not yet reflected the apparent third read vote at SEJM, introduces the Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPS) licensing regime and coordinates Polish regulations with the European Union market in the Cryptocratic Regulation (MICA) framework.
Passing the bill has sparked a strong local community response to restrictive provisions introducing criminal liability for violations, including fines of up to 10 million Polish Zloti ($2.8 million) and a sentence of up to two years.
Main Bill Provisions
The bill designates Polish financial supervisory body Komisha Nadrzor Vannsowego (KNF), as the leading regulator of the country’s cryptocurrency market.
Under the law, all CASPs, including both domestic and foreign exchanges, issuers and custodians, must obtain licenses from the KNF to operate in Poland.
To ensure a license, CASPS must submit a comprehensive application detailing the corporate structure, capital adequacy, internal control and compliance systems, risk management policies, and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
If the bill is passed and the law is signed, Polish CASPS will have a transition period of six months to obtain the required license. Otherwise, it could result in operational termination and legal consequences.
Bill will “destroy” Polish crypto market, critics warn
The 230 and 196 votes against Poland’s Crypto Asset Market Act sparked a major backlash from both the crypto industry and Polish lawmakers.
Janusz Kowalski, a member of the SEJM of the Opposition Law and Justice (PIS) Party, criticized Poland’s EU’s implementation of MICA regulations, calling it excessively restrictive, warning that it could put the country’s crypto market and 3 million crypto holders at risk.
“This is the largest and most restrictive cryptocurrency law in the EU,” Kowalski wrote to X after passing his second reading last Wednesday.
Related: Mimo is under pressure to challenge national regulators to passports
He highlighted the excessive length of the law, describing it as “118 pages of overregulation” compared to much shorter cryptography in Germany, the Czech Republic and other EU countries.
“The EU’s slowest regulator”
Polish politician and blockchain advocate Thomas Menzen highlighted the challenge of implementing new cryptography amid the long Polish regulatory process.
“KNF is the slowest working regulator in the EU, with an average application processing time of 30 months,” he wrote to X last Wednesday.
According to Mentzen, the approval of Sejm’s bill shows Poland’s potential “blockchain and stubcoin destruction” in a “yes” vote from members, including Krystyna Skowrońska.
He urged the Senate and President Karol Naulocky to reject and reject laws that protect Polish crypto markets.
The Polish president has pledged to support cryptography
Menzen’s brother Swabomir Menzen was one of the Polish presidential candidates who vowed to create a Bitcoin (BTC) reserve if elected in 2025. In the first round on May 18, 2025, he took third place with 14.8% of the vote, following behind Rafau Truzaskowski and Nowrocki.
In the June 1st leak, Nawrocki won the presidency with 50.9% of the vote. A few days before the election, he vowed to support codes and confronted “tyrannical regulations” that restrict freedom and innovation.
“In Poland, innovation must emerge, not regulations. As president of the Republic of Poland, I guarantee that the tyranny regulations that limit your freedom will not come into effect,” Naulocky wrote on X on May 28th.
magazine: ETH co-founders will move $6 million ETH.