Poland’s crypto licensing standoff cedes ground to EU-authorized rivals

Poland’s stalled crypto legislation has left domestic firms without access to licensing while EU-authorized competitors continue to enter the market.

The Sejm failed on September 4 to override President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of the bill needed to implement portions of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, extending a licensing gap that began more than two months after Poland’s transition period expired.

Lawmakers recorded 241 votes to re-enact the bill, 198 against, and three abstentions—falling short of the threshold needed to overcome the June 11 veto.

Without the legislation, Poland has not yet designated the domestic authority required to process standard MiCA applications. The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has stated that authorization proceedings cannot commence until that designation is made by law.

This leaves firms seeking a Polish license in limbo even as competitors authorized elsewhere in the bloc retain a path into the same market.

EU licenses offer a way around Poland’s blockage

MiCA permits an authorized crypto-asset service provider to operate across member states through its home regulator. A firm can notify that regulator of the countries and services it intends to cover and begin cross-border activity once it has transmitted the information, or after the applicable waiting period. Polish regulators have confirmed that route remains available.

The advantage grew more significant after July 1, when the maximum MiCA transition period expired. Companies can no longer rely on Poland’s previous virtual-currency activity register to continue operating.

The Katowice Tax Administration Chamber ruled that an entry on that register no longer provides authorization, while Polish regulators maintain that domestic legislation or an administrative decision cannot extend the transition. That effectively closes the old route before Poland has opened the new one.

The distinction follows the entity providing the service rather than the nationality of its owners. A Polish crypto group could still reach domestic customers through an affiliate that has obtained the necessary MiCA authorization elsewhere in the EU and completed the cross-border notification process. A company relying only on its old Polish registration cannot.

This creates an incentive for firms unwilling to wait on Warsaw to seek authorization in another member state where the MiCA licensing machinery is already operating. For applicants that remain in Poland, the next opening depends on lawmakers passing legislation that designates a competent authority. Until then, their quickest route back to Polish customers may run through another European capital.

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