Poland’s Crypto Surge: 1 in 5 Poles Now Invested as Bitcoin Bill Sparks Debate

Warsaw wakes up to a crypto revolution—20% of Poles are now hodlers as lawmakers scramble to regulate.

Subheader: From Złoty to Satoshis

Poland’s finance ministry just dropped a bombshell mid-Bitcoin bill negotiations: a fifth of the population has skin in the crypto game. No more grandma’s savings bonds—this is a nation betting on blockchain.

Subheader: Regulatory Whiplash

Politicians debating KYC rules didn’t see this tidal wave coming. Meanwhile, exchanges are quietly onboarding users faster than the Warsaw Stock Exchange can say 'bear market.'

Closing jab: Who needs pension reforms when you’ve got 100x leverage on shitcoins?

Fifth of Poles already invested in cryptocurrencies, government says

Addressing lawmakers from the ruling majority and the opposition, Deputy Finance Minister Jurand Drop defended the cabinet’s motion, stressing that the Central European nation is yet to adopt rules providing protection for crypto investors.

“20% of investors in this market declare that they have fallen victim to some kind of fraud or abuse,” the government official pointed out, while also emphasizing:

“In Poland, 18% of people already have experience investing in crypto assets. These regulations are crucial for strengthening investor and customer protection in the crypto asset market.”

Polish crypto sector fears bill may spark exodus of businesses

The new legislation, aimed at transposing the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation into national law, has been the cause of DEEP concerns among the members of the local crypto community.

A worrying MOVE for them is the decision to entrust oversight to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), “which is notorious for its less-than-favorable attitude toward cryptocurrencies,” as Bitcoin.pl remarked in its article.

Another controversial moment has been the proposal to impose a 0.5% fee on the revenues of Polish crypto exchanges, which is not required by MiCA, while charging foreign-based trading platforms only a one-time fee of around $5,000.

Representatives of Poland’s crypto industry have complained that this WOULD hurt their ability to compete with exchanges based abroad. It may even push Polish companies to relocate to more favorable jurisdictions in order to continue to work in their own market.

Lawmakers from the opposition highlighted these and other issues with the bill. Janusz Kowalski, from the right-wing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party suggested such charges should be capped and criticized the idea to grant supervisory powers to the KNF.

“Poland has enormous potential in the crypto asset innovation sector. But instead of harnessing it, the Ministry of Finance wants to stifle the development of crypto assets, which is a dramatic reversal of global trends,” Kowalski stated in a post on X, following the parliamentary session.

🔹Polska ma ogromny potencjał w sektorze innowacji kryptoaktywów. Ale zamiast go wykorzystać, @MF_GOV_PL chce zablokować rozwój kryptoaktywów, co jest dramatycznym odwróceniem światowych trendów.

🔹Chcemy jako @pisorgpl, aby polscy informatycy pracowali dla polskich firm, w… pic.twitter.com/ZRTTbMuAW5

— Janusz Kowalski 🇵🇱 (@JKowalski_posel) July 22, 2025

“As PiS, we want Polish IT specialists to work for Polish companies, in Poland—not in the Czech Republic, Malta, or Germany—and for Poland to be the number one investment destination for crypto asset investments,” he insisted, further reasoning:

“Therefore, we need simple and sensible regulations regarding crypto assets, not the overregulated law proposed by [Prime Minister] Donald Tusk’s government.”

Speaking to the leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Kowalski recently announced that if the Sejm does not amend the document, PiS-backed President-elect Karol Nawrocki, who is assuming office in early August, will veto the legislation.

“The government’s draft bill fails to meet the fundamental principle that should apply when implementing EU law: ‘EU+zero’,” he stated, rejecting rules added by Polish politicians. The latter “would block the development of crypto assets in Poland for years,” Kowalski warned.

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