Detailed overview
Poland: KNF MiCA Framework and Pending Crypto-Assets Market Act
Poland is a MiCA jurisdiction at EU-law level, but the Polish domestic implementation framework is not yet complete.
At the review date, Poland had not enacted a national MiCA implementation act formally designating and empowering a Polish competent authority for ordinary crypto-asset service provider authorisation. KNF is listed by ESMA with an asterisk and is expected to become the Polish competent authority, but UKNF has stated that no Polish national authority has yet been formally designated for CASPs, ART issuers or offerors and admission applicants for crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs.
This makes Poland different from most EU jurisdictions. A Polish home-state CASP licence route is not currently a normal operational route. A provider that needs an EU MiCA licence now should consider an already operational EU home Member State.
Regulator
The expected future regulator is the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, KNF.
The Polish government adopted a new draft Crypto-Assets Market Act on 8 May 2026. The draft is intended to implement MiCA in Polish law and designate KNF as the supervisory authority for the crypto-assets market.
Until the Polish act is enacted and KNF is formally empowered, KNF cannot run an ordinary Polish MiCA authorisation process for CASPs.
KNF may still be relevant under other Polish financial-services laws. This is particularly important for e-money, payment services, investment services, financial instruments, banking, EMTs and other sectorally regulated activity.
Licensing route
A business that provides crypto-asset services in the EU generally needs MiCA authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider unless it is an eligible financial entity using Article 60 or a duly authorised EU CASP passporting into Poland.
The relevant crypto-asset services are custody and administration of crypto-assets for clients, operation of a crypto-asset trading platform, exchange of crypto-assets for funds, exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets, execution of client orders, placing of crypto-assets, reception and transmission of orders, advice on crypto-assets, portfolio management on crypto-assets and transfer services for clients.
Transfer services are a separate MiCA service and should be included in the service-mapping analysis.
The licence perimeter applies only where the asset is within MiCA. Tokens that qualify as financial instruments, deposits, structured deposits, fund interests, payment instruments, non-MiCA e-money arrangements, insurance products, NFTs or other excluded products require separate legal analysis.
Polish home-state authorisation
A Polish home-state CASP authorisation route is not currently operational in the ordinary sense.
MiCA requires a CASP applicant to apply to the competent authority of its home Member State. UKNF has stated that authorisation proceedings in Poland can be initiated and conducted only after a competent authority is designated by statute.
A Polish company can prepare a MiCA application package, but it should not assume that KNF can currently grant a Polish CASP licence.
A credible future Polish application should include a full service map, legal perimeter analysis, Poland home-state analysis, programme of operations, business plan, constitutional documents, proof of prudential safeguards, governance materials, management fit-and-proper evidence, qualifying-holder information, internal controls, AML and counter-terrorist-financing procedures, sanctions controls, TFR procedures, risk assessment, business-continuity plan, ICT and DORA materials, client-asset and client-fund segregation procedures, complaints procedures, conflicts management, outsourcing framework, custody policy where relevant, trading-platform rules and market-abuse systems where relevant, exchange commercial policy and pricing methodology where relevant, execution policy where relevant, advice and portfolio-management competence evidence where relevant and transfer-service procedures where relevant.
Article 60 notification
Article 60 is not a general shortcut for unregulated applicants. It is a notification route for specified regulated financial entities and permitted equivalent crypto-asset services.
The Article 60 route may be relevant for credit institutions, central securities depositories, investment firms, market operators, electronic-money institutions, UCITS management companies and alternative investment fund managers.
In Poland, Article 60 should be analysed carefully because the national competent-authority framework is not yet fully enacted for MiCA CASP supervision.
A regulated Polish financial institution should check both MiCA Article 60 and its existing sectoral permissions before launching any crypto-asset service.
An unregulated applicant cannot use Article 60.
Transitional position
Poland’s transition is unusually complex because national implementation legislation has not yet entered into force.
UKNF’s current position is that entities that provided crypto-asset services in accordance with Polish national law before 30 December 2024 may continue under MiCA Article 143 until 1 July 2026 or until authorisation is granted or refused, whichever comes first.
In Poland, this primarily concerns entities entered in the register of virtual-currency activity maintained by the Tax Administration Chamber in Katowice.
This transitional position is not MiCA authorisation.
A transitional Polish provider operates under national law. It cannot use the MiCA passport and should not market itself as MiCA-authorised.
The Tax Administration Chamber in Katowice has stated that, from 30 December 2024, new entries in the Polish virtual-currency activity register are not possible.
If Poland still has no formally designated competent authority after 1 July 2026, UKNF has stated that national providers will lose the ability to provide crypto-asset services under the Article 143 transition until they obtain the relevant authorisation. UKNF has also stated that this date cannot be extended by statute or by KNF decision.
Passporting into Poland
A CASP authorised in another EU Member State may provide its authorised services in Poland through the MiCA passport.
UKNF has stated that cross-border activity into Poland under MiCA remains possible even though Poland has not formally designated a domestic MiCA competent authority or single point of contact.
For a provider that needs to serve Polish clients before a Polish authorisation route is operational, authorisation in another EU Member State followed by MiCA passporting into Poland is the most practical route.
Passporting is service-specific. A CASP may provide only the services covered by its home-state authorisation and passport notification.
Token issuance and white papers
CASP authorisation and token-offer compliance are separate.
A Polish home-state notification of a white paper for crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs is not currently operational because no Polish competent authority has been designated for that function.
UKNF has stated that fulfilling the white-paper notification obligation in Poland is not possible until a competent authority is designated.
An issuer or offeror from another EU Member State that has completed the MiCA white-paper process in its home Member State may offer the relevant crypto-asset in Poland under MiCA.
ARTs and EMTs have separate rules. KNF remains relevant for EMT issuers through existing sectoral competence, while ART authorisation or white-paper approval granted by another Member State can be valid across the EU.
Costs
Poland does not yet have an enacted operational CASP fee framework.
KNF has published information on planned supervisory fees under draft legislation, but those materials are not binding law.
The pending draft fee model contemplates supervisory fees for CASPs based on crypto-asset service revenues, subject to a minimum and a statutory cap, but exact fee exposure should be checked after the final act and implementing rules are enacted.
The legacy virtual-currency activity register carried a stamp duty, but new entries are no longer available from 30 December 2024.
Applicants should budget for legal, governance, AML, sanctions, TFR, DORA, ICT, custody, outsourcing, complaints, conflicts, audit, accounting, prudential, insurance and operational implementation costs.
Prudential safeguards
A CASP must maintain MiCA prudential safeguards at all times.
The required amount is at least the higher of the applicable permanent minimum capital requirement and one quarter of fixed overheads for the preceding year.
The MiCA class amounts are EUR 50,000 for class 1, EUR 125,000 for class 2 and EUR 150,000 for class 3.
Class 1 covers execution of orders, placing, transfer services, reception and transmission of orders, advice and portfolio management.
Class 2 includes class 1 services plus custody and administration, exchange of crypto-assets for funds and exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets.
Class 3 includes class 2 services plus operation of a crypto-asset trading platform.
Where a provider offers services in more than one class, the highest applicable class applies.
Prudential safeguards may take the form of own funds, an insurance policy, a comparable guarantee or a permitted combination.
AML, TFR and legacy register controls
Polish transitional providers remain subject to AML and TFR-related obligations.
The Tax Administration Chamber in Katowice continues to maintain the legacy virtual-currency activity register. That register is based on the Polish AML framework, not MiCA authorisation.
UKNF has stated that Regulation 2023/1113 on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets applies from 30 December 2024 to CASPs, including entities entered in the Polish virtual-currency activity register, during the MiCA transitional period.
A Polish transitional provider should maintain AML/CFT risk assessment, customer due diligence, beneficial ownership controls, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, suspicious-activity escalation, travel-rule procedures, outsourcing oversight, recordkeeping and staff training.
The lack of Polish MiCA implementation is not a compliance holiday.
DORA and ICT
A Polish CASP applicant preparing for future authorisation should prepare ICT and DORA materials before filing.
The application package should include ICT governance, cybersecurity controls, incident-management procedures, business-continuity planning, outsourcing controls, wallet and custody technology controls, operational-resilience evidence and ICT third-party risk management.
A business that seeks authorisation in another EU home Member State and passports into Poland will need to satisfy the DORA and ICT requirements of that home-state authorisation process.
Pending law and sanctions
The Polish government adopted a new draft Crypto-Assets Market Act on 8 May 2026.
The draft is intended to designate KNF as the Polish MiCA supervisor and give it supervisory and investigative powers.
The Ministry of Finance has stated that the draft proposes stricter sanctions, including increased penalties for providing crypto-asset services without legally required authorisation.
Those draft sanctions are not current binding law.
For publication and client advice, fixed Polish sanctions, fees and procedural rules should be checked only against the final enacted act and KNF guidance.
Enforcement risk
Poland is not a low-risk jurisdiction. Its risk is mainly legal uncertainty and the approaching end of transition.
The main enforcement and operational risks are relying on legacy virtual-currency register status as if it were MiCA authorisation, assuming that Polish CASP authorisation can already be obtained, providing services after 1 July 2026 without authorisation, attempting to use a Polish legacy status as a passport, using Article 60 without eligibility, providing services outside authorised scope, weak AML or TFR controls, weak DORA readiness, and misleading authorisation or marketing claims.
A provider authorised in another Member State should use the MiCA passport route properly before serving Polish clients.
A Polish provider that wants Poland as home Member State should monitor enactment of the Crypto-Assets Market Act and prepare its Article 62 application file in advance, but should not represent itself as authorised until authorisation is granted.
Practical assessment
Poland is not currently suitable as an immediate MiCA home-state licensing jurisdiction for a new unregulated CASP.
It may be relevant as a host market served through a valid MiCA passport from another EU Member State.
Poland may become an important KNF-led MiCA jurisdiction once the Crypto-Assets Market Act is enacted and KNF is formally empowered.
The main execution risks are domestic implementation uncertainty, no operational Polish authorisation process, the 1 July 2026 transition backstop, inability to obtain new legacy register entries, service misclassification, Article 60 misuse, weak AML or TFR controls, and public claims that overstate legacy or draft-law status.