The troubles for Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following 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. Tusk suggested that these politicians were acting in the exchange's interests by blocking legislation. The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers.
This criticism came after Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, attempted to address allegations that the company was using investors' funds to replenish its dwindling reserves. Kral stated that the exchange has sufficient reserves and disclosed the existence of a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million. However, the company cannot access these funds because the previous owner failed to provide the private key and is now missing.
Kral revealed this information to counteract unfounded accusations of fund misappropriation. The wallet in question was previously owned by former CEO Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2021. Zondacrypto has been dealing with issues of delayed customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to deny any misuse of client funds and assert the exchange's profitability.
The situation has been framed by Kral as part of a broader campaign against the company, citing 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 associated with Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024.
The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-standing, with past issues including the identification of a shareholder with a criminal history and the company being placed on a public warning list for unauthorized financial activities by Poland's Financial Supervision Authority in 2019. More recently, an investigation was launched into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, for violating consumer interests.
Kral has attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' focusing solely on hot wallets and has explained withdrawal delays as a result of implementing new security measures and an unusually high volume of requests. The wallet presented as evidence of reserves has shown minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions.
The veto vote on crypto market regulation saw 191 MPs vote in favor and 243 against, falling short of the necessary votes to overturn the block.