Poland's Prime Minister Accuses Zondacrypto of Meddling in Legislation

The troubles for Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of customer withdrawals being frozen or delayed, the company has now drawn criticism from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleged that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians who opposed crypto market regulation. Tusk made these comments before a parliamentary vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the law. The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers, according to Tusk. This development came a day 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 hand over the private key and has since disappeared. Kral revealed the wallet address in an effort to dispel accusations of misappropriating funds. The private key was not transferred by former CEO Sylwester Suszek in 2021, when ownership of the exchange changed, and Suszek has been missing for four years. Zondacrypto has faced issues with delayed customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to deny any misuse of client funds and assert that the exchange remains profitable. He made the inaccessible wallet public to demonstrate the exchange's reserves. Kral framed the situation as part of a broader campaign against the company, citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage that contributed to a surge in withdrawal requests. An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets tied to Zonda have dropped by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto has been ongoing, with Polish investigative reporting in 2024 identifying a shareholder with a criminal record. In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities. An investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, is currently underway. Kral attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' and stated that the platform's withdrawal delays were due to an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security systems.