Poland’s parliament once again failed to overturn a presidential veto blocking a key bill regulating cryptocurrencies, prolonging a political dispute over how the country should oversee digital assets.
In Friday’s vote, MPs lacked the 263 votes required to override President Karol Nawrocki’s veto, local TVP World station reported. reported. The report shows that 243 parliamentarians voted for the veto and 191 supported it.
The bill, supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, aims to align Poland with the EU regulation on cryptocurrency markets (MiCA), introduced in 2024 to regulate the issuance and custody of cryptographic assets. Poland remains the only EU member state that has not yet implemented the bloc’s framework.
According to a report by TVP Świat, Nawrocki defended his decision, citing concerns about excessive regulation, restricted transparency and a potential burden on diminutive businesses.
But government officials warn that delaying regulation puts investors at risk. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański reportedly said that the lack of clear rules risks turning the market into “El Dorado for fraudsters”, adding that both consumers and businesses remain susceptible to abuse.
Related: The Zonda exchange claims that the portfolio is 4.5 thousand. BTC is unavailable due to withdrawal crisis
The Polish draft cryptocurrency bill has faced repeated failures
The failed override of the president’s veto is the government’s second failed attempt to push through the bill after a similar rejection in December.
However, despite the failure, Polish legislators restored the regulation within a few days last December. They claimed that the modern design was an “improved” version, although critics claimed that it was virtually no different from the original.
President Nawrocki vetoed the bill again in February this year. “I will not sign a bad law just because it has been passed again by the parliamentary majority. A bad law that has been passed a hundred times is still a bad law,” he said then.
Related: Poland’s president will veto the MiCA bill again as crypto companies seek to obtain licenses abroad
Zonda caught in a cryptopolitical brawl in Poland
The dispute also drew in Zonda, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which reportedly lobbied against the bill. Tension increased after Tusk accused platform containing links to illicit financing, citing intelligence reports that allegedly link his origins to Russian criminal networks.
“Attempts to involve me and Zonda in current political disputes are as absurd as they are harmful to the Polish innovation market” – Zonda President Przemysław Kral he wrote regarding X, adding that he is “forced to take appropriate legal steps to protect my personal rights.”
Last week, he also said he did not control access to a cryptocurrency wallet reportedly containing $330 million, which he said remained with former CEO Sylwester Suszek before his disappearance in 2022.
Warehouse: Bitcoin Could Take 7 Years to Upgrade to a Post-Quantum Version – BIP-360 Contributor
