The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto have intensified. Following reports of customer withdrawals being frozen or delayed, the company has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleges that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians who opposed the regulation of the crypto market.
Tusk claimed that these politicians were acting in the interests of the exchange, which has ties to Russia and had previously provided them with financial support. This statement was made before a parliamentary vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of a law related to crypto market regulation. The vote ultimately failed to garner enough support to overturn the veto. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto deepened after its CEO, Przemysław Kral, revealed that the company owns a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million.
However, the company is unable to access these funds because the private key was not handed over by the previous CEO, Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2021. Kral's announcement was an attempt to address allegations that the company was misusing investor funds to bolster its dwindling reserves. Zondacrypto has been facing issues with customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to deny any wrongdoing and assert that the exchange remains profitable. The situation has been framed by Kral as part of a broader campaign against the company, involving political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage, which has led to a surge in withdrawal requests.
An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that the bitcoin balances in hot wallets associated with Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024. The company's history has been marred by controversy, including the identification of a shareholder with a criminal record and the placement of its predecessor, BitBay, on a public warning list for unauthorized financial activities by Poland's Financial Supervision Authority in 2019. An ongoing investigation by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection into BB Trade Estonia, the owner of Zonda, for violating consumer interests, further complicates the situation.
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 an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security measures. The wallet presented as evidence of the company's reserves has shown minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 incoming transactions. The ongoing veto vote, which aimed to overturn President Nawrocki's veto of the crypto regulation law, failed to secure enough votes, with 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, falling 20 votes short of the required majority.