Polish premier puts cryptocurrencies on frontline of alleged Russian hybrid war

Warsaw

At a rare closed session of the Polish Sejm on Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said threats to Poland’s economic and state security are becoming more closely linked to the cryptocurrency market and suspected Russian influence.

At the center of the political confrontation is a bill that would tighten oversight of the cryptocurrency market, which the new president has vetoed, citing concerns about over-regulation and effects on innovation. The government argues that the law is necessary to protect small investors and to shield the Polish financial system from opaque money flows.

By explicitly linking cryptocurrencies to “Russian agents” and “sabotage,” Tusk’s team is reframing what might otherwise appear to be a technical financial bill as a frontline in Poland’s hybrid-war security environment.

Remarks about crypto companies being linked to “party and television affiliates” hint at another layer of the ongoing hybrid warfare Warsaw alleges Moscow is waging. Authorities suspect that elements of the former PiS-dominated system — including certain media outlets — could be connected to networks of opaque funding and speculative assets vulnerable to, or useful for, foreign interference.

Through intelligence-style briefings, the government is arguing that cryptocurrency markets are no longer merely a financial issue but a national security concern. Analysts note that future regulatory battles—over media, tech, or finance—may increasingly be framed through the language of state security.

The repeated references to a “Russian trail” in crypto underscore how deeply hybrid war and disinformation frames now permeate Polish politics.

The timing and framing of Tusk’s briefing also reflect a wider pattern of incidents that Polish authorities describe as elements of a Russian-Belarusian hybrid campaign. In recent months Poland has reported drone incursions and shoot-downs near the eastern border and deep inside Polish airspace, some linked to Russian strikes on Ukraine that overshot or probed NATO territory; sabotage attempts against railway infrastructure and cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns targeting state institutions, logistics networks and public opinion, often coordinated with spikes in migration pressure on the Polish–Belarusian frontier.

Against this backdrop, the government argues that unregulated or poorly regulated cryptocurrency markets can be used to finance or mask such operations: from paying local agents to laundering proceeds of cybercrime, to funneling money into political or media projects that amplify Kremlin narratives.

Critics from PiS accuse Tusk of exploiting the security climate to push through over-restrictive regulation and to discredit his predecessors. Supporters counter that the secrecy of the briefing reflects the sensitivity of intelligence sources and ongoing investigations into suspected networks.