Poland's Prime Minister Accuses Zondacrypto of Interfering with Legislation

The troubles of Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals, the company has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleged in parliament that Zondacrypto had sponsored politicians who opposed crypto market regulation. Tusk claimed that these politicians were acting in the exchange's interests when they blocked the legislation. The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers. Tusk's comments came after Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, attempted to address allegations that the company was using investors' funds to supplement its dwindling reserves. Kral stated that the exchange has sufficient reserves and owns a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million. However, the company is unable to access these funds because the previous owner failed to provide the private key and has since disappeared. Kral revealed the wallet address to counter accusations of misappropriating funds. The key was not handed over by former CEO Sylwester Suszek in 2021, when ownership of the exchange transferred, and Suszek has been missing for four years. Zondacrypto has faced reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals since late March. Kral denied any misuse of client funds and claimed the exchange remains profitable. He made the wallet public to demonstrate the exchange's reserves. According to Kral, the situation is part of a broader campaign against the company, involving political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage, which has led to a surge in withdrawal requests. An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets linked to Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-standing. In 2024, Polish investigative reporting identified a shareholder with a criminal record, and in 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities. In January 2025, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection launched an investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, for violating consumer interests. Kral attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' by focusing solely on hot wallets. He stated that the platform processed an unusually high number of withdrawal requests, which, combined with the implementation of new security systems, required manual verification. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions. The veto vote on the crypto market regulation law resulted in 191 MPs voting in favor of the veto and 243 against it, falling short of the required number to overturn the block.