The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to escalate. Following reports of customer withdrawals being frozen or delayed, the company has come under fire 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 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 bolster its dwindling reserves. Kral stated that the exchange has sufficient reserves and 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 previous owner, former CEO Sylwester Suszek, did not provide the private key and has since disappeared. Kral revealed the wallet address in an effort to dispel accusations of misappropriating funds.
The key was not transferred when ownership of the exchange changed hands in 2021, and Suszek has been missing for four years. Zondacrypto has faced issues with delayed customer withdrawals since late March, according to local news reports.
Kral denied any misuse of client funds and maintained that the exchange remains profitable. He disclosed the inaccessible wallet to demonstrate that the exchange has reserves. Kral framed the situation as part of a broader campaign against the company, citing political pressure, regulatory interference, and coordinated media coverage that contributed to a surge in withdrawal requests.
An analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets linked to Zonda have dropped by approximately 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is long-standing.
In 2024, Polish investigative reporting identified a shareholder, Marek K., who held a 35% stake, as a criminal sentenced to eight years in prison for complicity in a 1995 gangland murder and fined for VAT fraud. In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, the exchange's former name, on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities.
An investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, was launched in January 2025 by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for violating consumer interests. Kral attributed reports of declining reserves to a 'fundamental analytical error' by focusing solely on hot wallets. He stated that the platform processed an unusually high number of withdrawal requests, which, combined with the implementation of new security systems, led to manual verifications. The wallet presented as proof of reserves has seen minimal recent activity, with no outgoing transactions and 32 receiving transactions.
The veto vote resulted in 191 MPs voting in favor and 243 against, falling short of the required number to overturn the block.