13/08/2026
On 1 July, Poland's crypto-asset companies lost the only legal basis they had for offering services in the EU. Nobody in Poland can license them.
The Act meant to create that authority was vetoed for the third time on 11 June - the President's office citing the same objections each round, including regulator powers to freeze client funds before an appeal is heard. The deadline that followed isn't Polish law, though. It's an EU regulation, and KNF itself has said the date cannot be extended by Polish law or by a KNF decision.
Estimates of how many companies this hits range from roughly 1,400 to 2,000+, depending on the count (CoinDesk, citing separate industry figures). Whatever the exact number, the ones still standing are choosing between two different problems, not two answers to the same one. A handful of jurisdictions can register them fast. None of those hand back the EU market they built their client base in. The one route that does keeps them inside a licensing process running on roughly the same 12–24 month EU timeline that just failed to happen at home.
We've had a rising number of these calls since 11 June. Almost all start with “which jurisdiction is faster” - and most end somewhere closer to “can I still serve the clients I already have.”
We broke down where four of the routes companies are actually taking lead - link below:
https://opiniq.com/news/polands-crypto-license-deadlock-where-vasp-registered-companies-are-relocating-under-mica/