President Karol Nawrocki of Poland refused to sign a bill that he believed would have imposed overly strict regulations on the cryptocurrency market.
The president vetoed provisions of the bill on the basis that they “represent a real threat to the freedom of Poles, their property and the stability of the state,” according to an update on his website on Monday.
The Cryptoasset Market Act was Poland’s legislation to align with the European Union’s (EU) Cryptoasset Markets (MiCA) regulation, which is the bloc’s framework for establishing a single rulebook for the supervision of the cryptocurrency industry.
President Narwocki was concerned that the law allowed the government to take down crypto companies’ websites “with a single click” and that regulation on domain blocking lacked transparency and was open to abuse.
The law would also risk pushing overseas companies to Poland’s neighbors, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, because it is too long and complex. While the equivalent laws in these countries are only a dozen pages long, the proposed law in Poland was more than 100. Furthermore, regulatory fees would favor corporations and banks at the expense of new companies, which would be prevented from developing, according to the president.
“Overregulation is a sure way to push companies abroad instead of creating the conditions for them to earn and pay taxes in Poland,” the update said.
Nawrocki, who was elected in June this year, ran as an independent candidate but was supported by the country’s right-wing Law and Justice party, currently the opposition to the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Poland’s semi-presidential system of government means that the president does not have the same executive power as the president of the United States, for example. The veto power is one of the most important tools the president can use. In that case, a veto can only be overridden by a three-fifths majority of the Sejm, the Polish parliament.
