Significant amendments to Poland’s draft cryptoassets market Act

On 28 February 2025, the 4th edition of the seminar 'Risk and regulation in the banking sector. Cryptocurrencies are storming the world of finance’, organised by the Financial Supervision Authority and the European Financial Congress in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. The theme of the event was regulation and the importance of cryptoassets in the world of public finance.

What amendments have been announced?

One of the speakers was Deputy Minister of Finance, who is overseeing the work on the Polish Act on the Cryptoassets Market. The Deputy Minister reported on the status of the legislative work, indicating that:

• in March, Act on the Cryptoassets Market in its final form will be most likely published,
• the aim is for the parliament to pass the Act on the Cryptoassets Market in March (but no later than in April),
  the ban on cryptocurrency lending was removed from the draft, (we wrote about the ban here),
• the grandfathering period for entities on the VASP register will be extended,
• the regulations for recovery and buy-back plans have also been modified to exclude the imposition of excessive regulation on market players.

Grandfathering period under the new rules

The transition period for entities on the VASP register will not be linked to a specific date of the day, however, a grandfathering period of 4 months from the date of entry into force of the law was established.

The Deputy Minister also declared, without giving details, that the transition period for formally compliant entities registered in VASP register could be up to nine months. Presumably, the Deputy Minister was referring to the situation of VASPs applying for a CASP license, but no further details were given.

Thus, the previously known method of counting the transitional period by indicating predetermined dates has been abandoned.

Planning to obtain a CASP license? The FSC will start accepting applications soon!

The announced changes mean that the crypto market regulator (which will be the Polish Financial Supervision Authority) will be able to accept CASP licence applications in mid-May at the latest.

Do you have questions? Feel free to contact us!