The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of customers experiencing frozen or delayed withdrawals, the company has drawn the ire of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk accused Zondacrypto of sponsoring politicians who opposed crypto market regulation, effectively blocking 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 revealed that the exchange owns a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million.
However, the company is unable to access the funds due to a missing private key from the previous owner, former CEO Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2021. Kral denied any misuse of client funds and claimed the exchange remains profitable. The situation has sparked a broader campaign against the company, with Kral citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage as contributing factors to the surge in withdrawal requests. An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets tied to Zonda have decreased by approximately 99% since mid-2024.
The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-standing, with the company facing investigations and warnings from regulatory authorities in the past. In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, the company's former name, on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities. More recently, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection launched an investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, for violating consumer interests.
Kral has attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' and stated that the platform is 'stable, solvent, and secure.' The company has faced withdrawal delays due to an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security measures. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions.
The situation has also been impacted by a recent veto vote, in which 191 MPs voted in favor of the veto and 243 against it, falling short of the required number to overturn the block.