POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Michał Wołoszański, Łukasz Kudela and Marta Solarska-Kaleńczuk, Wołoszański & Partners
Prudential Safeguards CASPs must hold prudential safeguards at all times in an amount at least equal to the higher of: • the permanent minimum capital requirement appli- cable under MiCA; and • one quarter of the fixed overheads of the preceding year. The permanent minimum capital requirement amounts to: • EUR50,000 for the lower-risk services (advice, portfolio management, execution of orders, recep- tion and transmission of orders, placing of crypto- assets and transfer services); • EUR125,000 for custody and administration of crypto-assets and exchange services (in addition to the class 1 services); and • EUR150,000 for the operation of a trading platform (in addition to all class 2 services). Prudential safeguards may consist of own funds, an insurance policy or comparable guarantee meeting MiCA’s requirements, or a combination of these. The fixed-overheads calculation must follow MiCA and the applicable accounting framework, with only the deductions expressly permitted by MiCA. Supervisory Fee and Timeline The Polish implementing bill provides for an annual supervisory fee modelled on fees levied on other supervised entities; the exact methodology and cap have varied materially across successive drafts of the bill, and have been one of the central points of disagreement between the government and the Office of the President. The final calibration of the fee will depend on the outcome of the ongoing legislative pro- cess and should be verified against the act ultimate- ly entering into force. Under MiCA, the competent authority has 25 working days to determine whether an application is complete and a further 40 working days to assess a complete application, subject to lim- ited possibilities to suspend the period for additional information. In practice, applicants should allow for a materially longer supervisory engagement, including pre-application preparation and parallel work to align
a CASP authorisation, whichever is sooner. Member states may shorten this 18-month window; Poland has not done so. The successive Polish bills and the KNF position confirm that the transitional regime applies to entities entered in the Register of Activity in the Field of Virtual Currencies on 30 December 2024. Dur- ing the transitional period, Polish VASPs continue to operate under the national AML regime and cannot use the MiCA passport. Given the uncertain timing of the Polish implementing legislation, the practical situation of these entities after 1 July 2026 – should the implementing act not be in force by that date – remains a live regulatory concern. The KNF position of February 2026 confirmed this approach in the context of the absence of a designated competent authority for crypto-asset supervision in Poland. 3.2 Set-Up Requirements Application Package The CASP authorisation package under MiCA, supple- mented by the ESMA Regulatory Technical Standards and Implementing Technical Standards, is compre- hensive and covers, among other things, identifica- tion of the applicant, governance and internal con- trols, ICT-security and business continuity, prudential safeguards, fit-and-proper assessments of senior management, qualifying shareholders, AML/CFT poli- cies, client-asset safekeeping, and conflict-of-interest arrangements. Substance and Local Presence MiCA requires a CASP to have its registered office in a member state in which it provides at least part of its crypto-asset services, its place of effective manage- ment in the EU, and at least one director resident in the EU. In practice, KNF is likely to expect sufficient substance, decision-making capacity and operational presence in Poland where Poland is the home member state, including locally accessible senior management and control functions such as compliance, AML, risk management, ICT security and internal audit, whether performed internally or through properly controlled outsourcing. Reliance on outsourcing, including to non-EU service providers, does not relieve the CASP of regulatory responsibility.
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