End of Crypto Anonymity in Poland: DAC8
The Polish government has effectively confirmed the end of crypto anonymity in Poland. A draft bill adopted in December, implementing the EU DAC8 directive, will allow tax authorities to access crypto transaction data in a manner comparable to bank account reporting.
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On 17 December 2025, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft amendment to the Act on the Exchange of Tax Information with Other Countries. Despite its technical title, this draft represents one of the most significant regulatory developments for the Polish crypto market to date.
The Polish government has formally submitted the DAC8 implementing bill to the Sejm (the lower house of Parliament) on 4th January 2026. The Sejm has subsequently referred the draft legislation to the relevant parliamentary committee for further work.
Following the completion of committee proceedings, the bill will be put to a plenary vote. Adoption is expected to take place in the first half of 2026.
The new rules affect holders of Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, NFTs, and other crypto-assets who use exchanges or other intermediaries.
But It should be emphasized that EU law is a matter of dispute in Poland -the President has vetoed both the Crypto-Assets Market Act and the bill implementing the DSA, as discussed in more detail later in the article.
What Is DAC8?
The draft implements Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8) into Polish law. This is the eighth amendment to the EU directive on administrative cooperation in taxation. Its primary objective is to extend the system of automatic exchange of tax information to crypto-assets.
For many years, traditional bank accounts have been subject to full transparency under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), while crypto-assets remained largely outside formal reporting frameworks. As noted in the explanatory memorandum to the draft, most crypto-assets were not reportable under existing EU regulations, and many crypto service providers did not fall within the definition of financial institutions.
As a result, crypto-assets could be transferred and stored without the involvement of traditional financial intermediaries and without centralized oversight from a tax reporting perspective. This regulatory asymmetry is now being addressed.
DAC8 implements the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), aligning crypto reporting standards with those already applicable in traditional finance.
Who Will Be Required to Report?
The draft introduces the concept of a “reporting crypto-asset service provider”, which includes:
- Crypto-asset service providers authorized under MiCA, including major EU-licensed exchanges.
- Crypto-asset operators, a newly defined category covering entities not directly regulated under MiCA but providing comparable services, such as platforms operating under reverse solicitation models or certain NFT platforms.
- Providers of staking and crypto lending services, with reporting obligations explicitly extended to these activities.
- Operators of crypto ATMs and selected DeFi platforms, where they exercise effective control over transactions.
Which Authority Will Receive the Data?
The draft establishes nexus rules determining the jurisdiction responsible for reporting. For Polish tax residents, this means that transaction data will be reported to the Head of the National Tax Administration (Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa) via automatic exchange mechanisms, even where the service provider is established in another EU Member State.
Scope of Reported Information
User Identification Data
Reporting will include the following identification data of users:
- Full name
- Residential address
- Country or countries of tax residence
- Tax identification numbers (in Poland: PESEL or NIP)
- Date and place of birth
Transaction Data (Per Crypto-Asset)
Transaction data will be reported separately for each crypto-asset and will include:
- Total gross value of purchases made with fiat currencies
- Total gross value of sales into fiat currencies
- Market value of crypto-to-crypto exchanges
- Value of retail payment transactions settled in crypto
- Total value and number of incoming and outgoing transfers
- Number of units and number of transactions in each category
Transfers of crypto-assets from exchanges to external addresses, including private cold wallets, are explicitly covered. Such transfers will be reported as movements to addresses for which there is no information linking them to an identified natural person or business entity.
As a result, tax authorities will have visibility over the volume of crypto-assets withdrawn from the regulated ecosystem. Any future monetization of such assets may require substantiation of acquisition cost and timing of income realization.
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Mandatory Tax Residency Declaration
Under the DAC8 implementing legislation, access to crypto-asset services will be conditional upon the submission of a tax residency declaration. This requirement applies to both new and existing users.
The declaration must include:
- Country or countries of tax residence
- Tax identification number for each such country
- Personal data submitted under criminal liability for false statements
Failure to submit the declaration will result in restrictions on the account. After 60 days from the initial request, the reporting crypto-asset service provider will be required to block the user from performing reportable transactions, including purchases, sales, and withdrawals.
Deadlines for Existing Users
Service providers will have until 31 October 2026 to obtain the required declarations, with two formal requests to be issued.
Accounts for which declarations are not provided by the end of 2026 will be blocked as of 1 January 2027.
Retail Payments in Crypto
The draft introduces the concept of a “reportable retail payment transaction”, defined as a crypto-asset transfer in exchange for goods or services exceeding USD 50,000 in value.
Transactions such as the purchase of vehicles, real estate, or other high-value assets using crypto through regulated intermediaries will be reportable, with identification of both the buyer and the seller.
Exclusions From Reporting
The following categories are excluded from DAC8 reporting obligations:
- Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)
- Electronic money within the meaning of applicable regulations
- Closed-loop crypto-assets, including certain utility tokens, loyalty points, and in-game assets that cannot be used outside a limited ecosystem
The burden of proof rests with the service provider. In cases of uncertainty, a crypto-asset is treated as reportable.
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Sanctions for Non-Compliance
The draft establishes both administrative and fiscal criminal sanctions for non-compliance by service providers. These include:
- Financial penalties for failure to report
- Penalties for failure to apply due diligence procedures
- Sanctions for failure to register as required
- Fiscal criminal liability for individuals acting on behalf of non-compliant entities
The DAC8 implementation marks a fundamental shift in the treatment of crypto-assets in Poland.Crypto transactions conducted through regulated intermediaries will now be subject to transparency standards comparable to those applicable to bank accounts. For Polish tax residents, this effectively brings an end to practical crypto anonymity and significantly increases the importance of accurate tax reporting and record-keeping.
The EU law dispute in Poland – what’s next?
On this occasion, it is worth noting that on 9 January 2026 the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, vetoed the bill introducing the Digital Services Act into the Polish legal system. The aim of the bill was to increase the protection of internet users against illegal content and to introduce clear appeal procedures against platform decisions.
The President stated that, in his view, this was a bad law which does not directly implement EU law and, moreover, expands upon it unnecessarily. As he said:
“The act implementing the so-called DSA – the Digital Services Act, the EU regulation on digital services – was, in principle, supposed to protect citizens, especially children. It is true that virtual reality today brings many threats. This is an extremely important matter, requiring prudent, effective, and wise regulation.
And it is precisely for this reason that it should not have been destroyed by poor legislative insertions. Once again, provisions that are indefensible and simply harmful were attached to good solutions.
(…)
I want this to be stated clearly: a situation in which a government-subordinate official decides what is allowed on the Internet resembles the construct of the Ministry of Truth from Orwell’s novel 1984. The author wrote about a mechanism of power that first takes control over language, then over information, and finally over the thinking of citizens.
If the authorities decide what is ‘truth,’ what is ‘disinformation,’ who may speak and who may not, freedom disappears step by step – under the seemingly noble slogans of security, the common good, or the protection of the weakest.
The most effective way to take away freedom is not to ban speech, but to impose the only permissible version of reality. Orwell’s Ministry of Truth is a warning symbol, an alarm – against the moment when the state begins to tell citizens not only what they are allowed to do, but also what they are allowed to say and think.
That is why I say: veto. However, I would like this to be treated as an appeal: let us fix this. Within a month we can prepare an honest draft. Within two months we can have an act that protects children and respects the Constitution. I invite the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the organizations that have approached the President on this matter to jointly prepare a good bill. Freedom of speech must be protected by the courts – quickly, effectively, and independently. It is worth correcting this, it is worth doing it properly. Let us not waste time; also for the sake of the youngest, let us build a state of freedom, not a state of censorship.
(…)
I will sign good laws. I will veto bad ones. And I will always stand on the side of Polish women and men.”
It is also worth paying attention, in this context, to the bill on the crypto-assets market, which likewise remains in limbo.
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Seychelles Crypto License (VASP) from 8 000 EUR • from 5 months At present, the crypto bill has “left” the Senate, where an amendment worsening it was added, increasing the fee for token issuers. The Sejm may now reject or approve it. The document will then land on the President’s desk (rejection of the bill by the lower house does not seem realistic), where it will be vetoed.
As a result, a scenario of an increasing legislative deadlock is becoming more and more likely: the government has enough senators and MPs to pass its bill, but is subsequently unable to override the President’s veto, as a three-fifths majority in the Sejm is required.
It is very likely that all three laws implementing EU law in Poland-the Crypto-Assets Market Act, the DSA, and DAC8-will not come into force.
