Halted Polish Crypto Bill Stirs Political Storm in Warsaw
President Karol Nawrocki’s veto on a controversial law intended to regulate the Polish cryptocurrency market has ignited a fierce backlash, with the government launching threats and attacks against the head of state. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has ordered an investigation into an alleged “crypto affair,” directly implicating the president, while members of his ruling coalition have accused Nawrocki of acting in favor of Russian interests.
Poland is now engulfed in a significant political clash following President Nawrocki’s decision to halt the Tusk cabinet’s proposed legislation, which aimed to transpose the European Union’s latest crypto rules into national law. On Monday, the president vetoed the Crypto-Asset Market Act, which had been passed by the Polish parliament. Critics argue that this law is considerably harsher than the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
The local Bitcoin community had previously warned that the bill could effectively cripple the cryptocurrency business in Poland. President Nawrocki himself expressed additional concerns regarding the motives behind the bill, citing potential impacts on Poles’ personal and economic freedoms, as well as the nation’s stability.
In response, Tusk’s government counterattacked, alleging President Nawrocki’s involvement in a “crypto affair” and pointing to his “weird relationship” with the digital asset industry, as reported by the Bitcoin.pl portal. Prime Minister Tusk stated, as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, “Everyone is already talking about a crypto scam. This involves a large company, lawsuits, investigations, suspected murder, the disappearance of the manager of a key crypto firm.”
Tusk also suggested that a “political campaign” was behind the president’s move, noting the involvement of right-wing leaders and media in advertising one of the investigated companies. On Tuesday, Tusk further criticized the situation in a post on X.
The head of the Polish government announced that he had instructed his ministers to gather detailed information on the case. He stated:
“I expect the Minister of Finance to provide full information about the negative consequences of this veto, and I ask Ministers Siemoniak, Kerwiński, and Żurek for information about the context of this case and who is behind the blocking of this law.”
Tomasz Siemoniak serves as Poland’s coordinating minister of intelligence, Marcin Kerwiński heads the Ministry of the Interior, and Waldemar Żurek is the minister of justice and prosecutor general.
Donald Tusk vowed to push the law through parliament again and resubmit it for President Nawrocki’s signature, issuing a direct threat: “I ask you to treat this as your last chance to remove your name from the crypto scam, which has become a very public fact in recent days.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gawkowski accused the president of “blocking progress in digitalization.” The government indicated that the bill would be “immediately” sent back to Polish lawmakers to ensure the protection of 3 million Polish investors, as Tusk emphasized.
Ruling Coalition Alleges Russian Connection in Presidential Veto
The Civic Coalition, which holds executive power in Warsaw, escalated the accusations by suggesting that President Nawrocki’s halt of their legislative initiative serves Vladimir Putin’s Russia. They claim Moscow is leveraging cryptocurrencies to circumvent Western sanctions.
Bitcoin.pl, which documented the social media attacks, described this claim as “bold but misguided.” The crypto news outlet maintained that “a well-constructed law could block this without destroying the Polish Web3 ecosystem.”
The website pointed out that the proposed crypto law is “more than 100 pages of legislative nightmare, full of mistakes, ambiguities and bureaucratic barriers” that could “finish off” Polish blockchain businesses. It further commented:
“The president vetoed it not to defend fraudsters, but to give time to correct fundamental mistakes. It’s not a blocking of innovation, but an attempt to save it from the legislative molochs.”
The online publication characterized the current moment as critical for the Polish crypto market, potentially the largest in Eastern Europe within the EU. It presents an opportunity to adopt regulations that protect investors without stifling entrepreneurs.
“If the bill passes in its current form, we are in for a massive exodus of companies and capital to more friendly jurisdictions,” the Bitcoin portal wrote, listing Estonia, Switzerland, and Portugal as more welcoming European nations, alongside Poland’s neighbors, the Czech Republic and Hungary.