The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. In addition to dealing with reports of customer withdrawals being frozen or delayed, the company has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleged in parliament that Zondacrypto had sponsored politicians opposed to crypto market regulation. According to Tusk, these politicians' actions were influenced by the exchange, which has ties to Russia and had previously provided them with financial support.
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, but is unable to access the funds due to a missing private key. The key was not handed over by the previous CEO, Sylwester Suszek, when he left the company in 2021, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
Zondacrypto has been facing issues with delayed customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to deny any misuse of client funds and assert that the exchange remains profitable. The situation has been framed by Kral as part of a broader campaign against the company, citing supposed political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage contributing 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 is long-standing, with the company having been placed on Poland's Financial Supervision Authority's public warning list in 2019 for unauthorized financial activities.
An investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, was launched by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in January 2025 and is still ongoing. Kral has attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' and stated that the platform's withdrawal delays were caused by an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security measures.
The wallet presented as proof of reserves has shown little recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions. The veto vote on crypto market regulation ultimately failed to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto, with 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, falling short of the required number to block the veto.