Bitcoin holds peak popularity among Poland’s 2.5 million crypto investors, central bank finds

Bitcoin is the most popular digital asset with cryptocurrency owners in Poland, according to a new study ordered by the EU nation’s central bank.

The monetary authority wants to know the true number of people holding cryptocurrencies in the country, which is preparing to finally adopt European rules.

The results have come out after the leading crypto market in the eastern half of the Union was recently stunned by the crash of a major coin trading platform in the region.

How many Poles really own cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are enjoying significant interest from Polish investors, despite the recent challenges, but their central bank wants to know exactly how popular they are.

According to a survey commissioned by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), 6.4% of the country’s adult population, around 2.5 million people, actually own digital assets.

The regulator noted that the figure comes with 95% probability, pointing out that the real number is somewhere in the range of 5% to 8.1% (approx. 1.9 – 3 million).

The poll was conducted by the market and opinion research firm Ipsos among 1,000 respondents and widely quoted by Polish media.

The news outlets Puls Biznesu and Super Biznes remarked that it paints a more muted picture of the market than suggested by other surveys.

It indicates that while crypto assets are gaining popularity, they are not a mass investment tool yet, analysts say, but is this really the case?

A study carried out by the Dutch-licensed fintech company ARI10 and USE Research claimed that around 10 million Poles, over 35% of all, keep digital coins.

The finding featured in the “Cryptocurrency Adoption in Europe 2026” report, published earlier this year, put Poland among leading European nations in terms of ownership.

That research covered more than 11 000 respondents from 11 countries on the Old Continent, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Norway, as recently reported by Bankier.pl.

Commenting on its own poll, Poland’s central bank admitted it treats the data with some caution, acknowledging its estimates are quite conservative.

Which coins do Polish investors pick?

The NBP study also looks into the portfolios of Polish crypto investors, who tend to choose the best-known currencies, especially those with the largest market capitalization.

Bitcoin (BTC) often serves as the gateway to the market, with 3.5% of all respondents holding some. It’s followed by Ethereum (ETH), with 2.2%, while 3.1% have put money into other coins.

It’s worth noting that a relatively small share of the polled, 0.9%, keep fiat-pegged stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT or Circle’s USDC and EURC.

The authors of the report attempt to profile the average cryptocurrency owner in Poland, remarking that their findings aren’t much different from those in other EU countries.

Men are relatively more likely to acquire digital assets than women, and younger people are typically more eager to invest in them than the representatives of older generations.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin.pl highlighted another aspect that may have influenced the answers of participants in the poll, hence its results.

Taxation unveils the truth better than surveys, the crypto portal wrote in an article on Tuesday, recalling that only around 20,000 Poles reported crypto holdings on their tax returns last year.

Regardless of whether the true number of crypto holders is closer to 2 or 10 million, it signals that cryptocurrency is no longer a niche thing, the publication emphasized.

The latest polling data comes in the aftermath of the collapse of a major exchange in Poland, Zondacrypto, and amid political turmoil over the adoption of legislation introducing the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations in the country.