The woes of 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 that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians opposed to crypto market regulation.
Tusk claimed that these politicians were acting in the exchange's interests by blocking legislation. The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial backing to lawmakers. Tusk's remarks came after Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, attempted to dispel allegations that the company was misusing investor funds to bolster its dwindling reserves. Kral disclosed that the exchange possesses 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 transferred by the previous CEO, Sylwester Suszek, when he departed in 2021, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Zondacrypto has been dealing with issues related to delayed customer withdrawals since late March. Kral denied any misuse of client funds, stating that the exchange remains profitable.
He revealed the inaccessible wallet to demonstrate that the exchange has reserves. Kral attributed the situation to a broader campaign against the company, citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage, which have 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. In 2024, an investigation by TVN identified a shareholder, Marek K., who held a 35% stake, as a criminal convicted of complicity in a 1995 gangland murder and fined for VAT fraud. In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, the exchange's predecessor, on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities. In January 2025, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection initiated an investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, for violating consumer interests, which is still ongoing.
Kral previously stated that reports of declining reserves stemmed from an analytical error focusing solely on hot wallets. He claimed that Zonda was a stable, solvent, and secure entity.
Regarding withdrawal delays, he attributed the issue to an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security and transaction monitoring systems, which necessitated manual verifications. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions.
The veto vote ultimately failed to overturn the block, with 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, falling short of the required number to override the veto.