Polish Official Claims Russia Leveraging Crypto for Covert Ops Across Europe

• Polish security chief Sławomir Cenckiewicz says Russia may be using crypto to secretly fund espionage.
• Authorities in Poland are pushing a new bill to tighten cryptocurrency regulations to prevent misuse.

Poland’s top security official, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, has said that Russia is likely using cryptocurrency to support secret operations across Europe. He believes Moscow has been moving money through digital assets to fund espionage networks and acts of sabotage, especially in countries within the European Union.

Poland Moves to Block Russia’s Crypto Funding

In an interview with the Financial Times, Cenckiewicz explained that Russian agents may be using cryptocurrency to pay for covert missions and to keep their financial trails hidden. He said the payments might also be used to support Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which has reportedly been involved in drone attacks and other hidden operations in European airspace.

To tackle the problem, Polish authorities are working on a new bill that will tighten rules around cryptocurrency use. The goal is to make it harder for foreign powers, including Russia, to use digital money for spying or political interference. Cenckiewicz said the country’s intelligence services are paying close attention to the process to make sure there are no loopholes that could be exploited.

He also reminded the public of a case from 2023 when Polish investigators uncovered a network of spies connected to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. The group had been receiving money in crypto, which helped them avoid detection. Since then, several people have been arrested in Poland for spying or helping Russian operatives carry out sabotage.

These new claims come just days after the Bank of Russia allowed selected commercial banks to start limited dealings with digital currencies. Polish officials worry that this move could make it easier for Moscow to move funds under the radar and avoid Western restrictions.

It is worth noting that this news surfaced at a time when the general crypto market experienced a major crash. As noted in our earlier post, the digital asset market faced one of its biggest single-day crashes in history. This erased over $670 billion in value as widespread auto-liquidations rippled across major centralized exchanges.

Fears Grow Over Russia’s Use of Digital Assets

Experts say cryptocurrency gives Russia a way to move funds quickly across borders without relying on banks. Because transactions are hard to trace, it becomes easier to hide the purpose of the money or the people involved.

Past reports have linked Russia’s military intelligence to the use of Bitcoin during the 2016 United States election interference. Researchers found that Bitcoin was used to pay for servers and online tools needed for the operation.

More recently, the blockchain firm Elliptic found that Russian oligarch Ilan Shor’s A7 group used stablecoins like Tether (USDT) to move large sums of money to evade sanctions and influence politics in Moldova.

Poland’s warning adds to growing concern in Europe that cryptocurrency is becoming a key tool in Russia’s covert network. Still in Europe, another groundbreaking news was published. As mentioned in our last news brief, Swiss-regulated AMINA Bank AG announced it is the world’s first regulated financial institution to offer staking on Polygon.