Poland's Sejm failed to override a presidential veto of legislation meant to regulate the crypto market. It is the third time President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a version of this bill, and each time lawmakers have come up short on votes. The vote landed just as an investigation into the collapsed Zondacrypto exchange kept widening, and together the two stories show how hard it is for EU countries to align crypto oversight even under a shared rulebook like MiCA.
What actually happened in the Sejm?
On Friday, the Sejm, Poland's lower house of parliament, voted on whether to override President Karol Nawrocki's veto. The result was 241 votes in favor, 198 against, with three abstentions. Overriding a veto requires a three-fifths supermajority, which in this case meant 266 votes. Lawmakers fell 25 votes short, and the veto stood.
This is the third crypto oversight bill the president has rejected. Nawrocki argues the proposed rules are too strict for the industry. A three-fifths threshold is one of the highest bars in the Polish constitution, and opposition parties rarely gather enough votes against a president from a rival camp.
Why does Poland need this law in the first place?
MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, has applied across the bloc since 2024. It sets shared rules for token issuers, exchanges and custodians, covering assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. But each member state has to appoint its own national authority to enforce those rules.
In Poland, that job was meant to go to the KNF, the financial regulator that already oversees banks and exchanges. The vetoed bill spelled out the KNF's powers, from licensing crypto firms to blocking the websites of violators. Without the law in place, the KNF has no formal tools for supervision, even though MiCA already requires every EU country to have one. That leaves a gap: crypto companies, including issuers of stablecoins like USDT, fall under MiCA on paper, but Poland still has no specific regulator to enforce it.
- The gist: MiCA has applied across the EU since 2024 and sets shared rules for the crypto market.
- Every EU country must appoint its own supervisory authority.
- In Poland, that role was supposed to go to the KNF, the financial market regulator.
- Without the law, the KNF has no clear power to supervise crypto companies.
What exactly does the president object to?
Nawrocki has repeatedly said he supports crypto regulation in principle but sees the proposed rules as excessive. Most of all, he objects to the cost of compliance for companies and to giving regulators the power to block websites without a court order.
The president's office argues that parts of the bill would let the KNF cut off access to crypto service websites without a court ruling. To Nawrocki, that looks like excessive state interference in business, even if the goal is investor protection. As a result, Poland is stuck in an awkward spot. MiCA requires supervision, and a political standoff keeps blocking it.
The Zondacrypto scandal adds fuel to the fire
The collapse of the Zondacrypto exchange, formerly known as BitBay, is piling on more pressure. Ahead of Friday's vote, Prime Minister Donald Tusk released excerpts from testimony by a key witness in the case against the platform. According to Tusk, the witness described a payment arrangement worth 2 million Polish zloty, roughly $550,000, involving a foundation tied to former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
The same witness claimed someone had promised a presidential pardon in exchange for a conviction. Polish prosecutors are investigating fraud and money laundering tied to Zondacrypto, and in July merged the case with the 2022 disappearance of BitBay founder Sylwester Suszek. Prosecutors estimated in April that losses linked to Zondacrypto reach at least 350 million zloty, or about $95 million. In August, an Estonian court declared the exchange's operator, BB Trade Estonia, bankrupt. The first creditors' meeting is set for September 17.
What happens next?
Poland will not have a crypto oversight law anytime soon. Overriding a veto requires a majority parliament simply does not have. The KNF stays without clear authority, and crypto companies remain without defined licensing rules at the national level.
The Zondacrypto scandal, meanwhile, will keep unfolding alongside the political standoff. The September 17 creditors' meeting could offer the first answers about what happens to client funds.
Similar friction over aligning with MiCA could hit other countries too, including Ukraine, which is drafting its own crypto rules modeled on European standards as part of its path toward EU membership.
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