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 provided financial support to politicians opposing cryptocurrency market regulation. This, Tusk suggested, indicates that these politicians are aligned with the exchange's interests. The prime minister's comments were made ahead of a parliamentary vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of a law aimed at regulating the crypto market, as reported by AP.
Tusk also highlighted the exchange's connections to Russia. The allegations against Zondacrypto come after its CEO, Przemysław Kral, attempted to address concerns over the company's use of investor funds to bolster 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, he revealed that the company is unable to access these funds because the private key was not transferred by the previous owner, former CEO Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2021. Kral's announcement was an effort to counter accusations of misappropriating funds, emphasizing that the exchange remains profitable and that the revelation of the inaccessible wallet was meant to demonstrate the company's reserve holdings. The situation has been framed by Kral as part of a broader campaign against Zondacrypto, citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage as factors contributing to a surge in withdrawal requests.
An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris, cited by local news outlets, found a significant drop in bitcoin balances in hot wallets associated with Zonda, with a decrease of about 99% since mid-2024. This controversy is not new for Zondacrypto, as the company has faced previous allegations, including a 2024 investigation by Polish broadcaster TVN that identified a shareholder with a criminal history. In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, Zondacrypto's predecessor, on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities.
More recently, in January 2025, an investigation was launched by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection 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 exceptionally high volumes of requests and the implementation of new security measures.
The wallet in question has shown minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 incoming transactions, according to on-chain data. The parliamentary vote to overturn the presidential veto ultimately failed, with 191 MPs voting in favor of the veto and 243 against, falling short of the required number to overturn it.