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Poland’s Lawmakers Vote 240-202 to Let Minister Freeze Crypto of Sanctioned People
Poland’s Sejm voted 240-202 to let the interior minister freeze crypto and other assets of people on a national sanctions list before any court review. The bill now goes to the Senate and President Karol Nawrocki.
The Sejm, the lower house of parliament in Poland, voted 240-202 on November 6 to let the interior minister freeze crypto of sanctioned people before a court review. The Act on Restrictive Measures now goes to the Senate and then to President Karol Nawrocki.
- The Sejm passed the bill at its 68th sitting by 240 votes to 202, with one abstention and 17 members not voting.
- The law treats crypto assets as financial means that can be frozen, using the definition in the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA).
- Banks, exchanges and other parties that fail to freeze listed persons’ assets face administrative fines.
What the Act on Restrictive Measures does
The government bill also implements European Union sanctions rules. It lets the interior minister freeze crypto assets, bank accounts and other property of people and entities placed on a public national sanctions list.
Under the text, a freeze is meant to stop any movement, transfer, use or other change that would let the holder benefit from the assets. The measures also bar making funds or property available to listed persons and can exclude them from public contracts.
In some cases, the economy minister may appoint a temporary administrator to sell frozen assets. Under a separate order, the assets can be taken over for the State Treasury.
Who can be listed and on what grounds
The minister can add names on his own initiative or at the request of agencies including the financial watchdog, the central bank, the financial intelligence unit and the internal security service.
Grounds include supporting a country already under EU sanctions, serious human rights abuses, and initiating or financing information manipulation that seriously threatens Poland’s national security. A listing on that last ground requires showing a real and serious threat to Poland’s interests, borders, security or elections. Ordinary journalism, political speech and publishing are excluded unless they form a knowing campaign of the kind the law describes.
A freeze that applies before any court ruling
The minister’s decision takes effect the day after it is posted in the ministry’s Public Information Bulletin and is immediately enforceable. There is no option to ask the minister to reconsider.
A listed person may complain to an administrative court. The decision stays in force until a judgment becomes final, and the law sets aside the usual rule that would let a court pause a challenged order.
Who supports it and who opposes it
The bill aims the national list at people and companies seen as threats to Poland’s security, including some forms of foreign interference, and writes EU sanctions into Polish law.
Critics say the freezes go too far. Opposition lawmaker Roman Fritz called it a “totalitarian law” after the vote. The legal group Ordo Iuris argued in October that the list goes beyond what EU law requires and could threaten property rights and free expression. Poland’s National Broadcasting Council warned in September that the loose definition of information manipulation could reach the media and public debate.
What changes for crypto firms
The bill does not target ordinary bitcoin holders. It covers crypto owned, held or controlled by people and firms on the list. Compliance is checked by the financial intelligence unit and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), the national financial regulator, for firms they already oversee.
The text sets out no way for officials to obtain keys to coins in self-custody, meaning coins a person holds in their own wallet. Enforcement in practice runs through exchanges, custodians and other obliged institutions that can stop a transfer.
Poland still has no crypto licensing
Poland is the only EU country without a working regulator for crypto firms under the EU’s MiCA rules. The EU transition period ended on July 1, 2026, and the financial regulator, KNF, cannot grant licenses because the law that would let it never took effect. Many Polish firms are seeking licenses in Lithuania, Latvia or Germany so they can keep serving Polish customers.
The gap drew more attention after Zondacrypto, one of Poland’s largest exchanges, stopped customer withdrawals in April. Prosecutors have charged five people in a probe of losses of at least 350 million zlotys, and the exchange’s operator, BB Trade Estonia, was declared bankrupt in August.
What happens next
The Senate received the bill and, under Article 121 of the Constitution, has 30 days to adopt, amend or reject it. It would then go to Nawrocki, who has 21 days to sign it, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal.
Nawrocki has vetoed three versions of a separate bill that would have set up crypto licensing under EU rules, arguing the rules went too far. Lawmakers failed to override the latest veto on September 4, voting 241-198, short of the 266 votes needed. That dispute concerned licensing and supervision, not sanctions freezes. Whether the Senate changes the pre-court freeze, and whether Nawrocki signs this law, remains open.
