Polish lawmakers want to overturn the president’s veto of the cryptocurrency bill but failed again in their latest attempt to push it through.

Poland’s parliament has recently been unable to secure the required votes to override the president’s veto of a cryptocurrency regulatory bill, causing the country’s progress toward digitized-asset legislation to once again stall. This has made Poland one of the few EU member states that has not yet implemented the MiCA legal framework, leaving Poland behind the EU average level in cryptocurrency development.

Poland’s parliament tries to overturn the president’s veto of cryptocurrency

According to coverage by Polish media TVP World, in the most recent parliamentary vote, lawmakers attempted to override President (Karol Nawrocki)’s veto of a cryptocurrency regulatory bill, but ultimately failed to meet the required threshold of 263 votes. The voting results show that 243 lawmakers voted in favor of overriding the veto, while 191 lawmakers voted to uphold the president’s decision. This failed vote reflects ongoing differences within Poland’s legislative body over the details of regulations for crypto-assets. Under Poland’s constitutional framework, if an absolute majority cannot be obtained, the president’s veto power will have final effect, meaning the bill must enter a process of reexamination or amendment. This deadlock directly affects Poland’s legal progress in the digital financial market, requiring market participants to continue facing a state of regulatory opacity.

Poland has been slow to implement the EU MiCA framework

The main goal of the cryptocurrency regulatory bill is to align Poland’s domestic regulations with the EU’s “Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation” (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCA). MiCA is the EU’s standard regulatory framework for the issuance and custody of crypto-assets. Poland is currently one of the few member states that has not yet fully implemented this legal framework. The government led by Prime Minister Tusk (Donald Tusk) argues that establishing clear legal benchmarks is essential to protecting investors. Finance Minister (Andrzej Domański) pointed out that a legal vacuum could turn the market into a breeding ground for illegal activities, increasing the risk of fraud and financial losses faced by consumers and businesses. However, President Nawrocki takes a contrary position, saying the current proposal has problems of excessive regulation and insufficient transparency, and expressing concern that the regulations would impose an overly heavy compliance burden on local small businesses.

This vote was the second direct face-off between the Polish government and the president on cryptocurrency-related issues. Looking back at the legislative process, the president exercised the veto for the first time last December, after which the parliament proposed a revised version in February this year, claiming it was an “improved” draft. However, President Nawrocki of Poland believes the amendments differ only slightly from the original version.

Beyond the political deadlock, Poland’s homegrown trading platform Zonda has also been drawn into the center of public attention. Senior government officials previously questioned whether the platform is connected to certain streams of illicit funds, citing relevant reports claiming it has links to overseas criminal networks. In response, Zonda’s CEO Przemysław Kral denied the allegations, emphasizing that the accusations are disruptive to Poland’s innovative market and stating that legal action has been taken to defend its rights. In addition, the controversy over the $330 million crypto-asset wallet involved after the CEO disappeared before 2022 remains a focus of news to this day, further complicating the discussion environment surrounding the cryptocurrency bill.

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