The woes of Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals, the company has now drawn criticism from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who alleged that Zondacrypto sponsored politicians to oppose crypto market regulation. Tusk claimed that these politicians were acting in the exchange's interests when they blocked the legislation.
The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers. Tusk's comments 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, he admitted that the company cannot access the funds due to a missing private key, which was not handed over by the previous CEO, Sylwester Suszek, in 2021. Suszek has been missing for four years.
Zondacrypto has faced issues with customer withdrawals since late March, prompting Kral to deny any misuse of client funds and assert that the exchange remains profitable. 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 has led to a surge in withdrawal requests. An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets tied to Zonda have dropped by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-running, with Polish investigative reporting in 2024 identifying a shareholder with a criminal record.
In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, Zondacrypto's predecessor, on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities. An investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, was launched in January 2025 for violating consumer interests.
Kral has attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' and stated that the platform is stable, solvent, and secure. The presented wallet has seen little recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and only 32 receiving transactions. The veto vote on the regulatory legislation saw 191 MPs vote in favor and 243 against, falling short of the required number to overturn the block.