Poland MiCA deadlock forces local crypto firms to relocate abroad

Poland’s lower house of parliament failed to secure the necessary majority to overturn President Karol Nawrocki’s veto on a comprehensive crypto-asset bill, leaving the country without a domestic law to implement the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The stalled legislation aimed to create a national licensing route for crypto-asset service providers and strengthen investor protections.

The bill — first vetoed by the president in December 2025 — sought to designate a national supervisor and introduce measures spanning licensing, stablecoin safeguards and anti-money-laundering controls. Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) has warned that without a designated national framework and authority, domestic firms cannot complete a MiCA-compliant authorization process at home, exposing them to legal uncertainty ahead of the EU transition deadline.

Faced with that uncertainty, several established Polish exchanges and service providers are preparing to apply for MiCA licences in other EU member states such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Lithuania, then passport those licenses back into Poland. Market participants and regulators say this migration could erode tax bases and talent pools if companies shift operational hubs abroad.

The broader European context amplifies the cost of delay: MiCA establishes union-wide rules that will become fully enforceable as member states complete domestic steps, with the transition period running until July 1, 2026. Many EU peers have already started issuing licences under MiCA, placing Poland at a competitive disadvantage while political disputes over the law’s scope persist.

Analysts and industry representatives expect short-term regulatory arbitrage as firms seek jurisdictional certainty, and warn of longer-term structural impacts on Poland’s fintech ecosystem if a viable, MiCA-aligned domestic regime is not enacted. Political tensions—including government claims about national security risks tied to some market actors—make rapid consensus difficult, but observers say a redesigned bill that balances investor protection and market access would be essential to prevent capital and expertise flight.