Poland’s president has blocked a set of general rules for the country’s crypto sector, dealing a blow to the government’s push for stricter oversight.
Key points to remember:
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Polish President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a sweeping crypto law, saying it threatens property rights and individual freedoms.
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The blocked bill would have imposed strict oversight, including the power to block crypto websites.
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The decision reignited debate over whether regulations protect users or push companies to export.
Karol Nawrocki vetoed the Crypto Asset Market Law on Monday, arguing that its provisions “genuinely threaten the freedoms of Poles, their property and the stability of the state,” according to a statement from the presidential office.
The move immediately divided opinion in Warsaw, with crypto supporters applauding the decision and top officials accusing the president of opening the door to disorder.
Introduced in June, the bill aimed to bring Poland’s digital assets sector under strict control.
Government supporters said the measures were necessary to protect consumers from fraud and abusive practices.
However, critics, including opposition MP Tomasz Mentzen, had predicted that the president would refuse to sign it after obtaining authorization from Parliament, describing the bill as a brutal instrument that punished legitimate businesses alongside bad actors.
The president’s office has highlighted several hot spots. One of them was a clause that would give authorities broad powers to block websites linked to crypto activity.
“Domain blocking laws are opaque and can lead to abuse,” the statement said, warning that such tools risk being used beyond their original purpose.
Nawrocki added that the legislation was so dense that it undermined transparency, especially when compared to the leaner frameworks of neighboring Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary.
Rules that are too strict, he added, would only drive business and tax revenue to more welcoming jurisdictions like Lithuania and Malta.
The president also highlighted the high oversight fees built into the bill, arguing they would deter startups while favoring large foreign companies and banks.
“This is a reversal of logic, which kills a competitive market and poses a serious threat to innovation,” he said.
Meanwhile, government members quickly condemned the veto.
Finance Minister Andrzej Domański accused the president of “choosing chaos”, while Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned that the absence of new controls would leave savers exposed in the event of a market downturn.
