Politics 2 min read By Arthur Ellington
Poland’s crypto veto turns MiCA implementation into an institutional contest
A presidential veto blocked the government’s crypto-asset law, and the presidency has now submitted a second bill of its own. The dispute is about who builds Poland’s supervisory machinery after the MiCA transition expired.
Poland’s dispute over crypto regulation has moved from a legislative disagreement into a contest over institutional design. On September 4, parliament failed to override the president’s veto of the government’s crypto-assets law. Four days later, the presidential office submitted a second bill of its own.
The attempt to re-enact the vetoed law received 241 votes in favour, 198 against and three abstentions, but did not secure the majority required to overcome the veto.
The presidency’s answer arrived on September 8. Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the presidential chancellery, said the new proposal is intended as a compromise between investor protection and safeguards for business.
The timing matters because Poland’s MiCA transitional period ended on July 1, 2026. The finance ministry and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority have warned that the old entry in the national virtual-currency register is no longer enough to provide crypto-asset services. Providers need a valid MiCA authorisation.
That creates a practical institutional question. Firms need to know which authority receives applications, how supervision is conducted, what enforcement powers exist and how penalties will work. Customers, meanwhile, should check whether a provider holds a valid MiCA authorisation rather than relying on a legacy Polish registration.
The dispute also shows how European regulation can become a domestic constitutional question. MiCA establishes a common market framework, but national law still has to allocate powers and procedures.
For the government, the veto delayed the supervisory model it wanted to establish. For the presidency, the new draft is an attempt to rewrite that model on terms it considers more balanced.
The next stage is parliamentary scrutiny of the presidential bill. If the governing majority treats it as a basis for negotiation, Poland could close the institutional gap. If the camps remain locked into rival drafts, the market will continue operating under EU licensing rules while the domestic enforcement structure remains politically contested.
