The entry into force of the bill in the form proposed by the government of Donald Tusk would have been beneficial for zondacrypto and would have supported its business, zondacrypto admitted in a special statement. The company also recalled that in recent years it had both supported the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) and advertised on TVN. Politicians from PiS commented on the situation.
“Tusk committed harakiri, because he doesn’t even know what is in his own bill. Who wrote it? What lobby? On whose order? Tusk, a lobbyist for ZONDA?” said MP Rafał Bochenek.
In recent days, the cryptocurrency market has dominated political debate due to the presidential veto of the bill prepared by Donald Tusk’s government.
Zondacrypto – the largest Polish cryptocurrency exchange – also spoke out. The platform issued an extensive statement.
They stressed above all that the adoption of a law regulating the cryptoasset market in Poland would be beneficial for them, “as it would effectively eliminate from the Polish market the entities that currently offer such services without meeting the requirements of the MiCA regulation”.
“Therefore, if we were guided solely by our own interest, we would be calling for this bill to be signed as soon as possible, because its provisions, which are more restrictive than the MiCA regulation, would clearly eliminate from the market the entities that would like to apply for a licence in Poland, and thus our competition. Our exchange has no party colours”, the statement reads.
Rafał Bochenek of PiS posted fragments of zondacrypto’s statement on X: “the entry into force of the bill in the proposed form was beneficial for ZONDA and supported its business; over the years they financed WOŚP and advertisements, including on TVN; this supposedly ‘bad’ ZONDA according to Tusk is entering the American market…”
“Tusk committed hara-kiri, because he doesn’t even know what is in his own bill. Who wrote it? What lobby? On whose order? Tusk, a lobbyist for ZONDA?” Bochenek asks.
Zondacrypto has no interest in supporting or rejecting the bill implementing MiCA in Poland. In practice, its adoption would have benefited us even more than the veto. We already explain why. As zondacrypto, we are fully prepared to operate in compliance with the MiCA regulation, which is why implementing these rules in Poland is not a key factor for our operations. For years, we have operated as a regulated entity in Estonia, and we are also at an advanced stage of the MiCA licensing process conducted outside Poland. Whether the bill is signed or vetoed in Poland does not affect our operations - we adapted to MiCA requirements even before these rules came into force. For this reason, any lobbying activities concerning this bill are not on our side.
What is more, passing a law regulating the cryptoasset market in Poland would be beneficial for us, as it would effectively eliminate from the Polish market those entities that currently offer such services without meeting the requirements of the MiCA regulation. Therefore, if we were guided solely by our own interest, we would be calling for this bill to be signed as soon as possible, because its provisions, which are more restrictive than the MiCA regulation, would clearly eliminate from the market the entities seeking to obtain a licence in Poland, and thus our competition. Our exchange has no party colours. We cannot even accept politicians as clients due to regulations concerning so-called Politically Exposed Persons (PEP).
The full statement by zondacrypto is available HERE.
A response – illustrating the essence of the presidential veto – was presented on X by Law and Justice (PiS) MP Bartosz Kownacki.
“Mr Tusk does not understand or simply cannot grasp – and observing his intellectual qualifications, this is quite likely – that it was in the interest of the companies he refers to for this bill to be signed, because they do not operate under a Polish licence and it is in their interest to restrict the development of this sector in our country”, he pointed out.
The Chancellery of the President justified the veto of President Karol Nawrocki by stating that the bill provides, among other things, for the government to be able to disable the websites of companies operating in the cryptocurrency market with a single click, and that the provisions on domain blocking are non-transparent and may lead to abuse.