Українська
Русский
English
Polish Sejm Approves Strict Crypto Assets Law
The Polish parliament has passed a law on cryptocurrencies. The new legislation has been criticized for excessive regulation of the market.
Industry representatives warn that the new rules and high costs will lead to an outflow of crypto businesses.
The Sejm of Poland, the lower house of parliament, adopted a new law on crypto asset markets. The document is intended to transpose the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations into national law. However, the crypto community criticizes the law for attempting to overregulate the country’s crypto industry, stifling innovation, and threatening the closure of domestic companies working with digital assets.
A total of 230 deputies voted in favor of the bill, 196 opposed it, and none abstained. The crypto assets law will now be forwarded to the Senate, the upper chamber of parliament.
Key Provisions of the Law
According to Poland’s PAP news agency, the bill aims to protect clients and other market participants from so-called “dishonest entities.” It defines the obligations of accredited platforms and introduces criminal liability for unlicensed crypto services and the issuance of digital tokens.
The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) will gain powers to oversee the sector, detect violations, and combat fraud. The bill also regulates the operations of online crypto exchanges: they will be required to establish individual client accounts to safeguard users’ funds.
Violators face fines of up to 10 million Polish zlotys ($120,000) or imprisonment of up to two years.
Negative Community Reaction
The law has been criticized by crypto entrepreneurs and the parliamentary opposition. While transposing MiCA into national law seems natural, this cryptocurrency law is a “real nightmare” for entrepreneurs, according to Bitcoin.pl.
The Polish portal noted that some of the powers granted to the country’s financial regulator “resemble a repressive apparatus more than market supervision.”
According to the crypto community, the “clear rules set out in the new law” are nothing more than restrictions and costly requirements that will destroy innovation.
Earlier this month, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) listed the first-ever cryptocurrency Bitcoin ETF — Bitcoin BETA-ETF.
See also: "Reasons Why This Week Will Be Unstable for the Crypto Market"
