Polish Sejm Fails to Override President Nawrocki's Veto on Crypto Act

The Polish Sejm failed on April 17, 2026, to override President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the act on the crypto-asset market, as the ruling coalition fell short of the required majority amid a widening scandal surrounding the Zondacrypto cryptocurrency exchange. In the vote, 243 (votes) — MPs voting in favor of overriding the veto supported the override, while 191 voted against and three abstained. The threshold required for a successful override stood at 263 votes, leaving the government 20 votes short. The result means the legislation, which would have established KNF supervision over the cryptocurrency market, remains blocked for the second time following a presidential veto. Prime Minister Donald Tusk used the occasion to deliver a sweeping attack on the opposition and the president, framing the failed vote as part of a broader scandal with alleged Russian connections.

Tusk alleges Russian mafia money at Zondacrypto's roots Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the Sejm and a subsequent press conference that the origins of the Zondacrypto exchange were, in his words, "exceptionally sinister," alleging the company was founded with money linked to the Russian mafia and Russian intelligence services. Tusk stated that the company's founder disappeared in 2021 and is presumed dead, and that the exchange's subsequent growth from 2022 onward was built on those foundations. He added that Polish special services hold this information and that he had presented it at a secret session of the Sejm on December 5, at which President Nawrocki also received the relevant documents. „The roots of this company, which causes fear for thousands of cryptocurrency exchange investors, are exceptionally sinister; it is the disappearance and most likely death of the founder of this company, it is Russian money, the Russian mafia, it is the influence of Russian services.” — Donald Tusk via TVN24 Tusk estimated that as many as 30,000 people may have been harmed by the exchange's failure to pay out funds to clients. He also alleged that Zondacrypto served as a strategic sponsor of the CPAC conference in Rzeszów, an event that promoted Nawrocki and was attended by former President Andrzej Duda. Tusk further alleged that the exchange made payments to foundations linked to politicians Zbigniew Ziobro and Przemysław Wipler, and that its influence extended to the Polish Olympic Committee and its head, Radosław Piesiewicz.

Prosecutor's office opens fraud and money laundering inquiry Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek confirmed that an investigation into Zondacrypto had been initiated, covering allegations of fraud and money laundering. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński, speaking on TVN24's "Fakty po Faktach" program, said the exchange had "very strongly supported both right-wing events and very specific politicians" who had influence over whether the prosecutor's office would act in the case. Kierwiński called for the exchange's chief executive, Przemysław Kral, who is currently staying in Monaco, to be questioned by prosecutors, though he described this as his personal opinion. „This specific cryptocurrency exchange very strongly supported both right-wing events and very specific politicians. Politicians who had an influence on whether, for example, the prosecutor's office deals with this case or not.” — Marcin Kierwiński via TVN24 Tusk, addressing the Sejm chamber after the vote, said that without the law, authorities lacked the legal tools to act preventively, and that the prosecutor's office had only now received formal victim reports. An analysis published by Rzeczpospolita noted that the blocked act was primarily an institutional and supervisory framework law, granting powers to the KNF rather than direct enforceable rights to individual clients, and that its practical capacity to protect retail customers from losses such as those now reported would have been limited in any case.

Key events in the Zondacrypto affair: — ; — ; — ; — ; —

President's Chancellery and PiS push back against Tusk's framing Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the President's Chancellery, defended the veto before the vote, stating that Nawrocki "does not question the very idea of market regulation, but specific, bad solutions in this law." Bogucki also challenged the government's narrative, asking why, if Tusk's allegations were accurate, the state's services and prosecutors had not acted sooner. When pressed on an earlier promise of a presidential counter-proposal on cryptocurrency regulation, Bogucki acknowledged that no such draft had been submitted, saying a presidential law "would not have been processed" in any case and denying that his December 2025 announcement had constituted a lie. PiS MP Michał Wójcik, whom Tusk had personally attacked from the Sejm podium, accused the prime minister of hypocrisy, alleging that Tusk himself had voted for a Senate amendment identical to one Wójcik had previously submitted. „One of the greatest embarrassments of Prime Minister Donald Tusk in his political career. He accused me of an amendment for which he himself voted. A cardboard state. A cardboard Prime Minister.” — Michał Wójcik via wpolityce.pl Wójcik explained that the amendment in question had been submitted in the Senate by Kazimierz Kleina of the ruling Civic Coalition, and was substantively identical to a proposal Wójcik had co-authored. The vote result was secured by the combined opposition of PiS and Konfederacja MPs, whose ballots sustained the presidential veto for the second time.

Crypto-asset market act — veto override vote: Votes in favor (before: 263 required, after: 243 cast — 20 short); Votes against (before: N/A, after: 191); Abstentions (before: N/A, after: 3)

Poland's cryptocurrency market has operated without dedicated domestic supervision for years, with exchanges subject only to general anti-money-laundering obligations. The European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, entered into force in 2023 and required member states to establish national supervisory frameworks. The act blocked by Nawrocki's veto, passed by the Sejm on November 7, 2025, was Poland's primary legislative vehicle for implementing that framework and granting the KNF formal oversight powers over crypto-asset service providers.