The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of customer withdrawals being frozen or delayed, the company has come under fire from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleged that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians who opposed crypto market regulation. Tusk claimed that these politicians were acting in the exchange's interests when they blocked 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 boost 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 faced issues with delayed customer withdrawals since late March, but Kral denied any misuse of client funds and stated that the exchange remains profitable. He made the wallet's details public to demonstrate that the exchange has sufficient reserves. Kral attributed the situation to a broader campaign against the company, citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage, which 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, with the company having been placed on Poland's Financial Supervision Authority's public warning list in 2019 for unauthorized financial activities.
In 2024, an investigation by Polish broadcaster TVN identified a shareholder with a criminal record, and in 2025, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection launched an investigation into Zonda's owner, BB Trade Estonia, for violating consumer interests. Kral has maintained that reports of declining reserves are the result of an analytical error and that the platform is stable, solvent, and secure. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 incoming transactions. The recent veto vote in parliament resulted in 191 MPs voting in favor of the veto and 243 against it, falling short of the required number to overturn the block.