The woes of Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals, the company has drawn the ire of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who claims that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians to oppose crypto market regulation.
Tusk's comments came before a 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. In response to allegations of misappropriating investor funds, Zondacrypto CEO Przemysław Kral revealed that the company owns a bitcoin wallet holding approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million. However, the company cannot access these funds due to a missing private key from a former CEO, Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2021.
Kral denied any misuse of client funds, stating that the exchange remains profitable. The situation has been framed as part of a broader campaign against the company, with Kral citing supposed political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage contributing to a surge in withdrawal requests. 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 the company facing investigations and warnings from regulatory bodies in the past. 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 in progress.
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 issues with withdrawal delays, which Kral attributed to an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security and transaction monitoring systems.