The problems of the Polish cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto continue to worsen.
Already under fire following reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals, the company on Friday drew the ire of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who told parliament the company had sponsored some politicians opposed to regulating the crypto market.
The blocking of the legislation by some politicians showed they were toeing Zondacrypto’s line, Tusk said ahead of a vote to override President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of the law, according to an AP report. The exchange has ties to Russia and had previously provided financial support to lawmakers, he said.
Tusk’s comments came a day after Zondacrypto CEO Przemysław Kral turned to X to defuse allegations that the company was using investor funds to boost its dwindling reserves.
In a statement and video posted on the platform, Kral said the exchange had sufficient reserves and had a Bitcoin wallet containing around 4,500 BTC, or around $330 million. There’s a problem, though: he can’t access the funds because the previous owner didn’t hand over the private key and has now disappeared.
Delayed withdrawals
Kral said he revealed the wallet address to “cut off unfounded accusations of alleged embezzlement.” The key was not handed over by former CEO Sylwester Suszek in 2021, when ownership of the exchange, then known as BitBay, was transferred and Kral took over. Suszek has been missing for four years.
Zondacrypto has faced reports of frozen or delayed customer withdrawals since late March, according to local reports. Kral denied any misuse of customer funds and said the exchange remained profitable. He made the inaccessible wallet public to prove the exchange had reserves, he said.
Kral presented the situation as part of a broader campaign against the company, according to an AI translation of his Polish video. He pointed to alleged political pressure, regulatory interference and coordinated media coverage that contributed to an increase in takedown requests.
An analysis conducted by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris and cited by local media found that bitcoin balances in Zonda-linked hot wallets have fallen by around 99% since mid-2024. At one point, Kral threatened legal action against Polish media covering the situation.
The furor reignites the long-standing controversy surrounding the company.
A Polish investigative report, run by the TVN channel, in 2024 identified shareholder Marek K., who owned a 35% stake, as a criminal sentenced to eight years in prison for complicity in a gang-organized murder in 1995 and fined 45 million zlotys ($12.5 million) for VAT fraud.
In 2019, the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (KNF) placed BitBay on its public warning list for unauthorized financial activities.
In January 2025, the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection, Poland’s consumer protection agency, opened an investigation – still ongoing – against BB Trade Estonia, owner of Zonda, for “violating the collective interests of consumers”, Fakt reported earlier this month.
“Fundamental error”
In an April 6 article on At the time, Zonda presented itself as a “stable, solvent and secure entity”.
As for withdrawal times, he said that at one point the platform processed tens of thousands of requests in a short time, well above normal levels. This, coupled with “the implementation of new advanced security and transaction monitoring systems,” forced manual checks of withdrawals.
The wallet presented as proof of reserves following customer demand has seen little activity recently. Onchain data shows no outgoing movements and a total of 32 receiving transactions.
As for the veto, 191 MPs voted in favor of Nawrocki’s veto and 243 against, making 20 mandates too few to overturn the blockage, TVP World reported.
