The troubles facing 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 had sponsored politicians opposed to crypto market regulation. According to Tusk, this sponsorship led certain politicians to block legislation, effectively doing the exchange's bidding. The prime minister's comments came before a parliamentary vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of a law regulating the crypto market.
Zondacrypto has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers. In an attempt to address allegations that the company was misusing investor funds to bolster its dwindling reserves, Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, took to social media to reveal that the exchange owns a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million.
However, Kral admitted that the company cannot access these funds because the previous owner, former CEO Sylwester Suszek, failed to hand over the private key before disappearing. Suszek has been missing since 2021, when the ownership of the exchange changed, and Kral took over.
Kral claimed that the exchange has sufficient reserves and denied any misuse of client funds, stating that the company remains profitable. The revelation of the inaccessible wallet was intended to quell accusations of misappropriation. Zondacrypto has been dealing with reports of delayed customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to publicize the wallet address. He attributed the situation to 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 linked to Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-standing, with the company facing investigations and warnings from regulatory bodies in the past.
In 2024, an investigative report identified a shareholder with a criminal record, and in 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed the exchange on its public warning list for unauthorized activities. More recently, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection launched an investigation into Zonda's owner, BB Trade Estonia, for violating consumer interests. Kral has defended the company, stating that reports of declining reserves are based on a 'fundamental analytical error' and that the platform is 'stable, solvent, and secure.' The company has been processing a high volume of withdrawal requests, which, combined with the implementation of new security measures, has led to manual verification of withdrawals.
On-chain data shows that the wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 incoming transactions. The veto vote ultimately did not overturn the president's block, with 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, falling short of the required number to override the veto.