The Polish government sent back an 84-page crypto bill that the president had vetoed. This has led to discussions about whether the EU should be in charge of local or central issues. Polish MPs have pushed for stricter rules on cryptocurrencies, which President Karol Nawrocki has refused. This has made things worse between the president and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Polska2050, which is part of the ruling coalition in the Sejm (Poland’s lower house of parliament), brought back the large crypto measure on Tuesday, just days after Nawrocki vetoed a law that was the same. Supporters of the bill, such as Adam Gomoła, a member of Poland2050, dubbed Bill 2050 a “improved” version of the vetoed Bill 1424. However, government spokesman Adam Szłapka allegedly said that “not even a comma” had been modified.
The disagreement over Poland’s crypto bill comes at the same time that the European Union is putting its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) into effect in all of its member states. EU crypto enterprises have until July 2026 to follow the rules.
Local regulation debates collide with EU-wide MiCA rollout
The latest version of Poland’s draft crypto bill is an 84-page document that is very similar to the old Bill 1424. Its goal is to make the Polish Financial Supervision Authority the main regulator of the country’s crypto asset market.
Polish senator Tomasz Mentzen, who supports cryptocurrencies, has called Bill 1424 “118 pages of overregulation.” This is especially true when compared to shorter versions in other EU countries like Hungary or Romania.
Mentzen noted in an X post on Tuesday, “The government has once again adopted exactly the same bill on cryptoassets.”
He also made light of Tusk’s allegation that the president’s earlier veto was because of the supposed involvement of the “Russian mafia,” stating, “The bill is perfect, and anyone who thinks otherwise is funded by Putin.”
Szłapka, a spokeswoman for the government, said that Nawrocki probably won’t veto the proposed bill this time because he had a classified security briefing in parliament last week and “now has full knowledge” of what it would mean for national security.
Source: Tomasz Mentzen
MiCA is both local and centralised EU control
Poland’s discussion of its crypto bill is an important example for how to put the EU-wide MiCA regulation into action. If the measure passes, the local financial regulator will be in charge of keeping an eye on the market. The issue is even more important now that certain member states are asking for more centralised MiCA oversight by the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The Bank of France told the EU in October that the ESMA should have direct supervisory powers. They said that a fragmented approach to monitoring could hurt the EU’s financial independence. Some EU member states have pushed back against MiCA’s centralised monitoring. For example, regulators in Malta say it might introduce more levels of supervision that could inhibit market innovation.
Notably, Polish economist Krzysztof Piech, who is a well-known opponent of Poland’s planned crypto policy, has questioned the need for the law, saying that MiCA protections will start to work in 2026.
Some reports say that Nawrocki might not veto the law this time, but there are also rumours that his office has been given a “alternative” draft that is meant to make the market circumstances better. The proposed alternative reportedly aims to align with the EU-wide MiCA framework and deprive the local regulator of direct control.