Warsaw, December 5, 2025 – In a rare closed-door session of the Polish Sejm on Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a stark warning to lawmakers, asserting that threats to Poland's economic stability and national security are increasingly intertwined with the unregulated cryptocurrency market and suspected Russian influence operations. The briefing, held amid heightened tensions from a series of hybrid attacks attributed to Moscow and its ally Belarus, reframed a contentious financial regulation bill as a critical front in Poland's defense against foreign interference.
Tusk's address came just hours after the Sejm failed to override President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the Crypto-Asset Market Act, a sweeping piece of legislation designed to align Poland with the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The bill, passed by the lower house in November, sought to impose stricter oversight on digital asset trading, including mandatory licensing for crypto exchanges, enhanced anti-money laundering protocols, and provisions allowing the Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) to block non-compliant websites swiftly. Nawrocki, who assumed office in August after a closely contested election, rejected the measure on December 1, arguing it posed "a real threat to the freedoms of Poles, their property, and the stability of the state." His office highlighted concerns over "one-click" domain blocking as potentially abusive and overly burdensome, especially given the bill's 100-plus pages compared to shorter implementations in neighboring countries like the Czech Republic.
The veto returned the legislation to the Sejm, where overriding it required a three-fifths majority—approximately 276 votes out of 460 seats. Lawmakers fell short, with only 240 in favor, marking a significant setback for Tusk's centrist coalition. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański decried the outcome as "choosing chaos over accountability," warning that it exposes over 1 million Polish crypto investors—many of whom have already lost money to scams—to further risks in a "regulatory vacuum." Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski echoed this, stating on social media that when "the bubble bursts and thousands of Poles lose their savings, at least they will know who to thank."
Tusk's closed session, requested urgently on Wednesday for "state security" reasons, delved into classified intelligence briefings that reportedly linked cryptocurrency flows to "Russian agents" and acts of sabotage. According to leaks reported by Polish media outlet TVN24, the prime minister described crypto platforms as potential vectors for opaque funding that could finance disinformation campaigns, cyber operations, and even physical disruptions. He allegedly referenced "party and television affiliates" from the previous Law and Justice (PiS) administration—still the largest opposition bloc—as potentially entangled in networks vulnerable to Kremlin manipulation, including speculative assets promoted by right-wing media. This framing elevates what could have been a routine financial debate into a narrative of hybrid warfare, where digital currencies serve as tools for laundering proceeds from cybercrime or channeling funds to local operatives amplifying pro-Russian narratives.
The session's secrecy, justified by the need to protect ongoing investigations and intelligence sources, drew sharp rebukes from PiS leaders. Jarosław Kaczyński, the party's influential chairman, accused Tusk of "exploiting the security climate to ram through over-restrictive rules and smear his predecessors." PiS lawmakers, who largely opposed the crypto bill, celebrated the veto as a victory for innovation, with economist and party affiliate Sławomir Mentzen—himself a vocal crypto advocate—praising Nawrocki for thwarting a measure that would "destroy the Polish cryptocurrency market." Mentzen, who garnered significant support in the 2025 presidential race by pledging a national Bitcoin reserve, argued that the regulations would drive businesses abroad and stifle growth in a sector employing thousands.
Yet Tusk's government maintains that the stakes transcend partisan lines. In a post-session statement, the prime minister reiterated that "unregulated crypto markets are no longer just a financial issue—they're a national security imperative." Analysts align with this view, noting that cryptocurrencies' pseudonymity makes them ideal for evading sanctions and funding asymmetric threats. A recent European Parliament resolution condemned Russia's "systematic military and hybrid warfare," including drone incursions and sabotage, as state-sponsored terrorism, urging unified EU countermeasures like a "drone wall" along eastern borders. In Poland, where crypto adoption has surged—with trading volumes exceeding €10 billion annually—the government cites data showing 20% of users victimized by fraud, often tied to foreign entities.
This confrontation unfolds against a backdrop of escalating hybrid threats that Polish authorities describe as a coordinated Russian-Belarusian campaign. Since early September, Poland has grappled with a swarm of 19 to 23 Russian drones penetrating its airspace from Belarusian territory, an incursion lasting over seven hours and forcing closures of major airports in Warsaw, Rzeszów, and Lublin. NATO jets, including Dutch F-35s, shot down at least four, marking the alliance's first live-fire engagement against Russian assets over member territory. Prime Minister Tusk labeled it an "unprecedented attack on NATO and EU soil," triggering Article 4 consultations and the launch of Operation Eastern Sentry, a bolstered air defense initiative.
These aerial probes coincided with sabotage attempts on critical infrastructure. In late October, authorities discovered explosives on a key rail line ferrying military aid to Ukraine, an act Tusk called "the most dangerous situation for Polish security in years." Similar incidents have targeted logistics networks, with parcels containing incendiary devices intercepted in Poland, Germany, and the UK—operations linked by intelligence to Russian special services. Cyberattacks on state institutions have spiked, often synchronized with migration pressures engineered at the Polish-Belarusian border, where Minsk has weaponized asylum seekers since 2021. Foreign Minister Sikorski described the drone event as "tactically stupid and counterproductive," but evidence—including the drones' uniform unarmed status and launch from a single site—points to deliberate provocation ahead of the Zapad-2025 exercises, the largest Russian-Belarusian drills since the Ukraine invasion.
In this volatile context, Tusk's team argues that crypto's anonymity enables such operations: paying informants, laundering cybercrime gains, or bankrolling media outlets that echo Kremlin disinformation. References to a "Russian trail" in the briefing underscore how hybrid frames now saturate Polish discourse, with future battles over media, tech, and finance likely securitized similarly. The EU has responded with calls for sanctions on enablers like Iran and North Korea, suppliers of drone components, while urging faster rollout of the European Defence Industrial Programme.
Critics, however, see political opportunism. PiS accuses Tusk of leveraging fears to consolidate power, much like their own past "Lex Tusk" law probing Russian ties in the 2007–2022 era—a measure the EU once criticized as authoritarian. Supporters of the government counter that transparency in briefings is limited precisely to safeguard probes into PiS-linked networks, including a recent crypto scam investigation involving high-profile figures.
As Poland navigates this impasse, the veto leaves a regulatory void that could deter EU-wide MiCA compliance, forcing Polish firms to seek licenses elsewhere and eroding Warsaw's fintech edge. With NATO's eastern flank on high alert—Czech helicopters now bolstering Polish anti-drone defenses—the crypto debate symbolizes broader anxieties: how to foster innovation without inviting subversion. Tusk's closed session may yield no immediate votes, but it has indelibly linked Poland's digital economy to its geopolitical survival, prompting calls for a revised bill that balances security and growth.
European leaders, from Ursula von der Leyen to Mette Frederiksen, have voiced solidarity, framing these events as the "beginning of a hybrid war against Europe." As incursion patterns evolve—with GPS jamming over Sweden and balloon intrusions in Lithuania—the pressure mounts for a cohesive response. For Poland, a nation that has funneled billions in aid to Ukraine, the message is clear: in the shadows of hybrid threats, even Bitcoin's promise carries a Russian shadow.
