Senior consultant Kirill Gussev praises Poland VASP

As LegalBison serve and assist hundreds of crypto projects from all over the world to secure crypto licenses, there are a few jurisdictions and framework that prove more popular for our clients. One of the most effective solution over time for our clients has proven to be the Virtual Assets Services framework in Poland, a EU member state in Central Europe. Aside from having one of the most dynamic and growing economy in Europe, Poland is famous for its gorgeous cities and rich history.

In the context of the MiCA regulation soon applying to all crypto companies in the European Union, our clients and partners have been addressing their questions and concerns to us regarding the future. Recently we published a comment of the Polish Draft Act on the enforcement of MiCA and the grandfather period for VASP companies. As we are reaching the end of the final year before MiCA’s full enforcement, is it still worth considering a Polish VASP registration for crypto startups and entrepreneurs?

We asked one of our in-house specialist, sharing his experience from the field.

Introducing LegalBison senior consultant, Kirill Gussev

Kirill Gussev is a crypto regulation specialist and a compliance expert certified by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. Kirill has been advising crypto companies all over the world for more than 5 years. Garnering significant knowledge with a field experience of what constitutes a good regulatory framework for companies, Kirill’s expertise on crypto regulations has led many high-value projects to the Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) regime in Poland.

Kirill has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the Polish crypto license and how it has enabled his clients to serenely start and grow their activity.

• What makes the Polish crypto license so attractive to your clients?

At the moment Poland does not require any physical substance within the country and the overall setup costs and time are really appealing. It is also possible to obtain a ready-made solution which is even more efficient in terms of time. There are already more than 1400 VASPs.

• How diverse are the projects that you worked with and helped get a license in Poland?

There were many different projects. Token issuance entities, exchanges, merchant providers, and many more. For example, a customer of mine was planning to set up a launchpad as a Polish entity. It was a bit more complicated case due to the internal compliance of such a company. It is not allowed to list any real-world asset tokens on the platform, so the customer was obliged to do proper due diligence and request legal opinions on the nature of every case.

• Approximately how many projects did you lead to Poland?

I would say about 40 projects were established in Poland because of my suggestions and overall brainstorming done together with my clients. Sometimes it is not so easy to find a proper solution especially considering the constant legal framework changes all over the world.

• Of all these projects, did all of them undergo a smooth licensing process?

I would say that none of the Polish VASP-related cases had any issues even minor ones. We have a swift operations team and lawyers in place to fix anything.
I can only mention the account opening process complexity, it is another topic but it usually comes hand-in-hand with the VASP setups.
In this case, the decision-making process is on the payment institutions’ side and they have very robust requirements for the crypto-related business entities even if they are regulated.

• As a senior consultant, how much the Polish VASP framework answers the expectations and needs of your clients?

We are always trying to clear all the questions related to company maintenance, accounting, and reporting requirements in Poland so there are no blind spots for our customers. I would say that Polish VASP is the ideal solution for anyone looking for a properly regulated setup that is capable of operating almost worldwide.

Work with Kirill

Poland may be the jurisdiction of choice to serenely start or grow your crypto activity. You too can benefit from Kirill’s guidance and assistance to ensure the success of your project. Kirill Gussev is open to conversation with entrepreneurs and startups, who are willing to consider the registration of a Polish VASP company, or the purchase of an existing licensed company in Poland.