Sejm Fails to Overturn President’s Crypto Veto; Russia Alleged

Poland’s lower house of parliament failed on Friday to overturn President Karol Nawrocki’s veto on a government bill to regulate the country’s cryptocurrency market. Deputies voted 243 in favor of overriding the veto and 191 to uphold it; 263 votes were required to reverse the president.

The bill was drafted by the cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to transpose the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules into Polish law. Critics inside and outside parliament say the draft contains provisions stricter than the EU framework. Nawrocki returned the proposal twice, most recently in December, arguing it risked overregulation and imposed excessive burdens on small businesses. When he sent the text back, he warned the Polish Crypto-Asset Market Act “threatens the freedom of Poles, their property and the stability of the state.”

Tusk accused the president of acting under the influence of Russian-linked interests. The prime minister named Zondarcrypto, a Polish-rooted trading platform now registered in Estonia, and alleged its financial support had flowed to groups and events aligned with opponents of his government. He said information from Poland’s security agency, the ABW, links the exchange’s success to Russian money and to ties with organized crime and security services.

Zondarcrypto has faced reports of liquidity problems that have affected customer withdrawals and sponsorship commitments. The exchange’s chief executive denied insolvency but acknowledged he does not hold the key to a cryptocurrency wallet containing more than $330 million in bitcoin after the disappearance in 2022 of his predecessor, Sylwester Suszek. The company’s CEO has also been accused of making donations to foundations connected to opposition figures.

Members of the government warned that failing to adopt national rules would leave consumers and businesses exposed. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański described the legal vacuum as an “El Dorado for fraudsters,” and said the veto deprived consumers and entrepreneurs of adequate protection. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński vowed the government will continue to press the issue in parliament and in public debate, commenting, “The plan is to keep addressing this until we succeed, until the awareness of the threats and these strange interests connecting certain right-wing politicians with this exchange finally reaches the president.”

Poland remains the only EU member state yet to complete transposition of the MiCA rules adopted in 2024 and faces a July deadline to align its national law with the bloc’s framework. Lawmakers on both sides said they will continue negotiations; the vote left the draft law unresolved ahead of that deadline.