Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a government bill aimed at regulating the crypto assets market for the third time on June 11, blocking legislation that would have appointed the Polish Financial Supervision Authority as the market’s main watchdog.

The bill would have empowered the regulator, known as KNF, to supervise crypto asset service providers and impose sanctions on companies operating in the sector. It was intended to ensure Poland’s implementation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCA.

“The government is obsessively fighting a ‘crypto-shadow’ instead of genuinely solving the problem. This shows that, unfortunately, the intentions here are not sincere. The point is to talk about the problem of crypto assets, not to really solve it,” Nawrocki said in a televised speech on June 11 in which he justified his veto.

Nawrocki said he supported regulating the market and protecting consumers, but argued that the government had ignored most of the changes proposed by his office in reaction to the govenment's earlier attempts to pass the bill.

“I support regulation of this market. I support consumer protection, but it has to be done effectively,” Nawrocki said. 

“The bill that reached my desk is almost identical to the draft that had already been vetoed twice. The bill will be signed if it is corrected. Ready amendments are in the Sejm [parliament],” Nawrocki also said.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto in a post on X.

“It sounds unbelievable, but the president has again vetoed the cryptocurrency bill. He is probably more entangled in this than everyone thought,” Tusk said, without elaborating.

The veto comes as the government is pushing for tighter supervision of the sector following a fraud probe into Zondacrypto, Poland’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Prosecutors estimate losses at more than PLN350mn (€82.4mn) after thousands of users were unable to withdraw funds from the platform.

Tusk previously alleged that money linked to Russia stood behind Zondacrypto and accused politicians opposing the bill of protecting the company's allegedly seedy interests.

Nawrocki had previously rejected two earlier versions of the legislation, arguing that the proposed rules amounted to overregulation and could push Polish crypto companies to move their operations abroad.

The latest version of the bill differed from previous drafts by including one amendment proposed by the president’s office. The amendment would have required KNF, in cooperation with the finance minister, to prepare and publish annual reports on the functioning of the crypto assets market in the Public Information Bulletin.

Under the rejected bill, KNF would have been able to block cash or crypto asset accounts and suspend certain transactions for 96 hours. The government’s proposal also allowed such measures to be extended, though the total extension could not exceed six months.

KNF said in February 2026 that MiCA allows crypto asset service providers to continue operating without the authorisation required under EU law until July 1, 2026. The vetoed legislation would have set out the domestic process for granting such authorisations.

The regulator said that unless Polish law designates a competent supervisory authority, domestic companies will lose the ability to provide crypto asset services. In that case, only cross-border services in Poland would remain possible, provided the companies had obtained authorisation in another EU member state.