Poland's Prime Minister Accuses Zondacrypto of Influencing Legislation Amid Withdrawal Delays

The troubles facing 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 accused Zondacrypto of sponsoring politicians who opposed crypto market regulation. Tusk made these comments in parliament before a vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the law. He stated that the politicians' actions demonstrated they were following Zondacrypto's lead, and noted the exchange's connections to Russia and its previous financial support for lawmakers. The Prime Minister's remarks came a day after Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, addressed allegations that the company was using investors' funds to supplement its dwindling reserves. Kral claimed the exchange has sufficient reserves and announced the existence of 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, former CEO Sylwester Suszek, did not provide the private key and has been missing since 2021. Kral revealed the wallet's address in an effort to dispel accusations of misusing client funds. Zondacrypto has been experiencing issues with delayed customer withdrawals since late March, according to local news reports. Kral denied any misuse of client funds and asserted that the exchange remains profitable. He made the wallet public to demonstrate the exchange's reserves. Kral framed the situation as part of a broader campaign against the company, citing supposed political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage that led to a surge in withdrawal requests. An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets tied to Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto has been ongoing for some time. In 2024, Polish investigative reporting identified shareholder Marek K., who held a 35% stake, as a criminal sentenced to eight years in prison for complicity in a 1995 gangland murder and fined 45 million zlotys ($12.5 million) for VAT fraud. 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 started an investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, for violating the collective interests of consumers. Kral described reports of the decline in reserves as stemming from a fundamental analytical error by focusing solely on hot wallets. At the time, Zonda was a stable, solvent, and secure entity. Regarding withdrawal delays, he explained that the platform processed tens of thousands of requests in a short period, far above normal levels, and the implementation of new security and transaction monitoring systems necessitated manual withdrawal verifications. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen little recent activity, with no outgoing movements and a total of 32 receiving transactions. The vote to overturn the veto resulted in 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, 20 mandates too few to overturn the block.