Centralized exchange in Poland
Order-book exchange that takes custody of user assets and matches trades between users.
CEX is conditionally permitted in Poland with a local entity, subject to AML obligations and medium licensing burden.
Verdict Details
- Permitted
- conditional
- Local entity required
- Yes
- Licensing burden
- Medium
- Last updated
- 2026-07-13
AML Obligations
- Registration with GIIF (Minister of Finance) under the Polish AML Act (Ustawa z dnia 1 marca 2018 r.) before commencing operations.
- Customer Due Diligence (CDD) — identify and verify identity of clients and beneficial owners, screen against sanctions lists.
- Ongoing monitoring of client relationships and transactions for suspicious activity.
- Transaction monitoring systems to detect unusual patterns or thresholds.
- Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to GIIF.
- Record-keeping of client identification data and transactions for at least 5 years.
- Appoint a designated AML Officer (Compliance Officer).
- Develop and implement internal AML/CTF procedures, including a business-specific risk assessment.
- Provide regular AML/CTF training for all relevant employees.
- Travel Rule obligations apply on withdrawals — under the current AML Act and future MiCA framework (Article 67), transfers of crypto-assets must be accompanied by originator and beneficiary information.
Key Restrictions
- Must be a Polish legal entity (e.g., Sp. z o.o. or S.A.) with at least one management board member residing in Poland or holding Polish citizenship.
- Management board members and beneficial owners must meet fit-and-proper criteria (no criminal record for intentional financial crimes).
- Proof of knowledge and experience in virtual currencies required for registration.
- No specific minimum capital requirement currently, but MiCA will introduce capital requirements of €50,000–€150,000 from December 2024.
- MiCA will require segregation of client crypto-assets and funds (Article 67) — a separate agreement with clients and operational segregation must be in place.
- Under MiCA, CASPs must obtain authorization from the KNF (Polish Financial Supervision Authority) and obtain passportable EU license.
- Custody services must comply with MiCA's operational, IT security, and business continuity requirements.
Key Risks
- Current Polish AML Act does not explicitly mandate segregation of client assets for VASPs — regulatory gap exposes operators to civil liability if client assets are not segregated in practice.
- No specific definition of a 'qualified custodian' under current Polish law for virtual assets — ambiguity in custody standards until MiCA fully applies.
- Transition period from current GIIF registration regime to MiCA authorization with KNF may create regulatory uncertainty and dual-compliance burden.
- Enforcement precedent under the current AML Act is limited — sanctions risk for non-compliance with registration obligations.
- Failure to comply with Travel Rule obligations (originator/beneficiary data for crypto transfers) could result in sanctions from GIIF.
Evidence
This verdict synthesizes the following facts. Each fact links to its primary source(s).
Poland's pre-MiCA regime is the register of virtual-currency activity under Arts 129m–129z of the AML Act of 1 March 2018, kept for the Minister of Finance by the Director of IAS Katowice (not GIIF); it has accepted no new entries since 30 December 2024, and since 1 July 2026 an entry confers no right to provide crypto-asset services.
Evidence fact pl.licensing.legal-entity-local-presence not found (may have been renamed).
Virtual-currency activity under the AML Act of 1 March 2018 may be carried on by a natural person, a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality (Art 129n(1)); a Polish company is not required, although the register has accepted no new entries since 30 December 2024.
At least one individual from the management board of the Polish legal entity must have their residence in Poland or possess a Polish citizenship.
Evidence fact pl.licensing.fit-proper-criteria-managementowners not found (may have been renamed).
Internal AML/CTF Procedures: Develop and implement robust internal anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing procedures, including a risk assessment specific to the business and its clients.
AML Officer: Appoint a designated individual responsible for AML/CTF compliance (AML Officer or Compliance Officer).
Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Implement procedures for identifying and verifying the identity of clients, including beneficial owners, and understanding the purpose and nature of business relationships. This involves collecting identity documents, verifying data, and screening against sanctions lists.
Ongoing Monitoring: Conduct ongoing monitoring of client relationships and transactions to detect suspicious activities.
Transaction Monitoring: Implement systems to monitor transactions for unusual patterns or thresholds.
Reporting: Report suspicious transactions and activities to GIIF.
Record-keeping: Maintain records of client identification data and transactions for at least 5 years.
Training: Provide regular AML/CTF training for relevant employees.
The AML Act of 1 March 2018 sets no minimum capital requirement for entry in the virtual-currency register: Arts 129n–129o require only a clean criminal record and knowledge or experience; the register has accepted no new entries since 30 December 2024.
Future MiCA Impact: MiCA will introduce capital requirements for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs), ranging from €50,000 to €150,000 depending on the type of services provided.
Under Art 2(1) pkt 12 of the AML Act of 1 March 2018 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 644), obliged institutions include businesses providing exchange between virtual currencies and means of payment, exchange between virtual currencies, and intermediation in either exchange.
The AML Act of 1 March 2018 covers businesses keeping virtual-currency accounts (Art 2(1) pkt 12 lit. d), defined in Art 2(2) pkt 17 lit. e as an electronic set of identification data giving authorised persons the ability to use virtual-currency units, including to exchange them.
Under Art 2(1) pkt 12 of Poland's AML Act of 1 March 2018 (consolidated Dz.U. 2025 poz. 644), businesses providing virtual-currency exchange, intermediation or account-keeping (custody) services are obliged institutions, and Art 129m makes that activity conditional on entry in the register of virtual-currency activity; the register has accepted no new entries since 30 December 2024.
The competent organ for Poland's register of virtual-currency activity is the minister responsible for public finance (AML Act Art 129p), who by ordinance of 25 October 2021 (Dz.U. 2021 poz. 1964) designated the Director of the Revenue Administration Regional Office (IAS) in Katowice to keep the register.
Entry in Poland's register of virtual-currency activity (AML Act Arts 129m–129z) is a regulated-activity entry, not a prudential licence: its statutory conditions are a clean criminal record (Art 129n) and knowledge or experience (Art 129o), the register has taken no new entries since 30 December 2024, and IAS Katowice states that entry does not authorise acting as a MiCA crypto-asset service provider.
Poland's AML Act of 1 March 2018 (consolidated Dz.U. 2025 poz. 644) contains no client-asset segregation rule for virtual-currency custodians; segregation is required of crypto-asset service providers by MiCA Art 75(7), applicable since 30 December 2024, but no CASP is authorised in Poland (ESMA interim register, last update 31 Aug 2026), so the rule reaches Polish clients only through CASPs authorised in other member states.
Poland's AML Act treats keeping virtual-currency accounts (Art 2(2) pkt 17(e)) only as an AML-obliged activity (Art 2(1) pkt 12(d)) and sets register conditions limited to a clean criminal record and knowledge or experience (Arts 129n–129o), with no custody or prudential standards for custodians.
Requirement: Under MiCA, entities wishing to provide custody and administration of crypto-assets will need to obtain an authorization from their competent national authority (likely the Polish Financial Supervision Authority – KNF). This authorization will be passportable across the EU.
Requirement: MiCA explicitly mandates the segregation of client crypto-assets and funds. Article 67 specifies that CASPs providing custody services must:
Enter into an agreement with clients for the custody of crypto-assets.
Having a minimum initial capital (Article 60).
Verdict Attribution
- Source:
- AI-Generated · Unreviewed
- AI synthesized:
- 2026-07-13 (deepseek-chat)
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-13
- Confidence:
- medium
This verdict was produced by an AI model from the underlying facts. Confirm with counsel before relying on it for material decisions.
Conditional — a centralized exchange is permitted in Poland under the current GIIF registration regime for VASPs, but must be structured as a Polish legal entity with a resident manager, comply with extensive AML/CTF obligations including Travel Rule data transmission, and prepare for the transition to MiCA authorization under KNF supervision with capital requirements and mandatory client asset segregation from December 2024.
Questions this verdict aims to answer
- What exchange / VASP license applies?
- What custody segregation rules apply to user assets?
- What market-conduct and listing rules apply?
- What travel-rule obligations apply on withdrawals?