The troubles facing Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto have escalated, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk alleging that the company has ties to politicians who opposed crypto market regulation. Tusk made these comments before a parliamentary vote to overturn President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the law.
He claimed that Zondacrypto, which has links to Russia, had provided financial support to these lawmakers. This development comes after Zondacrypto's CEO, Przemysław Kral, attempted to address allegations that the company was using investors' funds to replenish its dwindling reserves.
Kral revealed that the exchange owns a bitcoin wallet containing approximately 4,500 BTC, valued at around $330 million, but is unable to access the funds due to a missing private key. The key was not handed over by the previous CEO, Sylwester Suszek, when he left the company in 2021, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Zondacrypto has been dealing with reports of delayed or frozen customer withdrawals since late March. Kral denied any misuse of client funds and stated that the exchange remains profitable.
He made the wallet's details public to demonstrate that the exchange has sufficient reserves. According to Kral, the situation is 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. Blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris found that bitcoin balances in hot wallets associated with Zonda have decreased by about 99% since mid-2024. The controversy surrounding Zondacrypto is not new, with the company facing scrutiny in the past for its ties to individuals with criminal backgrounds and unauthorized financial activities.
In 2019, Poland's Financial Supervision Authority placed BitBay, Zondacrypto's predecessor, on its public warning list. An investigation into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda's owner, was launched in January 2025 for allegedly violating consumer interests. Kral has attributed reports of declining reserves to an 'fundamental analytical error' and stated that the platform's withdrawal delays were caused by an unusually high volume of requests and the implementation of new security measures.