The Polish parliament failed on Friday September 5 to overturn the third presidential veto against the law on crypto-asset markets. The Sejm only gathered 241 votes out of the 266 required, despite pressure from Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the midst of the Zondacrypto scandal, an exchange accused of having embezzled $94 million in customer funds.
In brief
- The Sejm stopped at 241 votes, against the 266 required by the Constitution.
- Due to the lack of national law, Poland is the only Member State where no MiCA license can be issued.
- The Zondacrypto investigation dominated the debates, without reversing the votes.
The constitutional threshold once again missed
The September 5 vote in the Sejm constituted the third attempt to overturn the presidential veto on the Crypto-Asset Market Act. President Karol Nawrocki had already rejected this text in December 2025, February 2026, then June 2026. Each time, he cited the risks that the law would pose to the economic freedom of Poles.
Donald Tusk had pushed the urgent inclusion of the subject on the agenda of the Sejm the previous week. The debate was limited. The vote resulted in 241 votes in favor, 25 less than the three-fifths qualified majority required by the Constitution.
Why is this law getting so much attention? Without it, the Polish Financial Authority (KNF) has no legal basis to issue crypto-asset service provider (CASP) licenses at the national level.
A license impossible to apply for at home
MiCA applies directly throughout the Union, but each country must designate a competent authority to examine applications. L’Article 143(3) of the Regulation granted actors already registered at the national level until July 1, 2026 to comply.
This deadline has passed. In its note on the absence of a competent authority, the UKNF confirms: without authorization, a Polish company can no longer provide these services. However, nothing prevents a platform licensed elsewhere in the Union from serving customers in Poland using the European passport.
Two solutions therefore remain for the Warsaw operators. Seek approval in another Member State, or stop providing regulated services. The move to post-transition MiCA already showed that few waited.
The Zondacrypto affair changes the nature of the debate
The vote came as the prosecution estimates lost customer funds at least $94 million, an amount relayed by Bitcoin.com News. The platform’s boss, Przemysław Kral, left Poland in April; the press places him in Israel, of which he holds nationality, which makes extradition improbable. On August 27, the Tallinn court declared BB Trade Estonia, the company that operated the platform, bankrupt.
For Polskie RadioDonald Tusk put these elements on the table before the election and directly targeted the presidential camp, accused of having opened the way for Zondacrypto to the highest levels of the state.
“ Zondacrypto infiltrated the Polish state for a long time and without hindrance “, he told the Sejm, according to the account of the session published by Bitcoin.com. He also cited testimonies heard by investigators, without value as a court decision.
In short, the next episode will be played on the same threshold: 266 votes. In the meantime, requests for approval are going outside Poland, and the Polish text aligned with MiCA remains a dead letter.
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