Sławomir Mentzen, leader of the New Hope party, discussed the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Poland in his video blog. He didn't mince his words. In his opinion, the Polish authorities may lead to foreign entities taking over the digital currency market.
Sławomir Mentzen and cryptocurrencies
The leader of the Confederation, Sławomir Mentzen, invested in bitcoin many years ago. His declaration of assets, which is available on the Sejm website, shows that at the time of submitting the document (it was at the beginning of this parliamentary term) he had 33.7 BTC (then worth nearly PLN 5 million). He has also spoken about cryptocurrencies before.
I haven't bought any cryptocurrencies for years because it is a very risky investment! In 2013, I bought cryptocurrencies with basically all the money I had. I went all in and did very well. But that was 2013, in 2022 it would be crazy
– he warned in one of the interviews.
In his opinion, the problem with cryptocurrencies is that once it is risky, you don't know in which direction it will go. Two: from a legal perspective, it is incredibly risky, because we don't know whether it will ever be illegal.”
Does the Polish government want to destroy the market?
Now the blockchain world in Poland is alive with the government's attempt to regulate this market. This is what Mentzen commented on.
The politician pointed out that the European Union had prepared MiCA. Now this package of regulations is to be implemented into Polish law. However, Polish MPs can add something of their own to this set of provisions. And here there is a problem, because, according to Mentzen, the Polish authorities “take a directive (like MiCA) and look at how it can be implemented in the worst possible way.”
They add their own limitations, and as a result, it is not worth doing anything
– he said.
In his opinion, Poland has so far been a “semi-paradise” when it comes to running cryptocurrency businesses. This is to change from 2026.
According to the leader of the Confederation, if the bill in question comes into force in its current form, running a bitcoin exchange or exchange office in Poland will not be profitable. This involves the need to obtain a special license, which may be difficult to obtain in Poland.
There is hope, however. It will be possible to obtain such a license in another country in the European Union and operate in Poland on the basis of a “passport”. In practice, companies will not disappear, but they will pay taxes not in our country, but elsewhere.
