Polish politicians have once more failed to gather the required three-fifths supermajority to reject President Karol Nawrocki’s veto against legislation designed to enhance supervision over the nation’s digital asset sector.
The Sejm, which is the lower chamber of Poland’s parliament, cast ballots on Friday resulting in 241 to 198 supporting the veto override, alongside three abstentions, leaving the count 25 supporters short of the 266 total needed.
This legislative session represented another attempt to move Poland’s digital asset regulations forward following President Karol Nawrocki vetoing cryptocurrency laws three separate times, maintaining that the proposed framework places excessive burdens on the sector.
This regulatory standoff happens alongside a deepening controversy surrounding the defunct digital currency platform Zondacrypto, where its Estonian corporate administrator was ruled insolvent and Prime Minister Donald Tusk pointed to an escalating criminal inquiry to advocate for stricter digital asset oversight.
Poland remains without MiCA crypto supervisor
The rejected bill was formulated to set up Poland’s domestic structure for implementing the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which involves assigning digital asset sector supervision to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF).
The KNF stated on Friday that the country still lacks a designated entity tasked with watching over the virtual asset market, even though MiCA is currently in effect throughout the European Union.
Nawrocki has expressed that he backs virtual asset rules but contends that the local draft framework goes too far, pointing to worries regarding compliance expenses and the authority granted to agencies to block websites.
Zondacrypto probe expands amid bankruptcy
Prior to the Friday vote, Tusk revealed portions of what he described as statements from a central witness in the Zondacrypto investigation, claiming financial transfers and efforts to sway politicians connected to the prior Polish administration.
Tusk mentioned that the witness asserted a 2 million Polish zloty ($550,000) funding scheme tied to a charity associated with former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. Within separate declarations highlighted by Tusk, the witness claimed that an unidentified individual promised to arrange a presidential pardon if the witness faced a guilty verdict.
Related: Polish Olympic chief charged in Zondacrypto probe, justice minister says
Polish investigators are currently probing suspected fraud and money laundering linked to Zondacrypto. During July, authorities combined the case with an investigation concerning the 2022 disappearance of Sylwester Suszek, who founded BitBay before it rebranded into Zondacrypto.
Investigators stated in April that damages tied to Zondacrypto were calculated to be at least 350 million Polish zlotys ($95 million).
The corporate entity running Zondacrypto, BB Trade Estonia, was officially ruled insolvent by an Estonian tribunal in August, with the initial creditor gathering planned for September 17.
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Originally published at https://cointelegraph.com/news/poland-upholds-crypto-bill-veto-zondacrypto-scandal-widens?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound.
