Poland’s Zondacrypto finds itself at the center of a widening political and regulatory storm after fresh accusations fromPrime Minister Donald Tusk and mounting operational complaints from customers.
Tusk told parliament that Zondacrypto had financially backed politicians who opposed tighter crypto-market rules, suggesting those lawmakers had been blocking legislation to protect the exchange’s interests. His remarks came ahead of a parliamentary vote on whether to overturn a veto issued by President Karol Nawrocki; the attempt to override the veto fell short, with 243 MPs voting to overturn but coming 20 votes shy of the required threshold, while 191 voted to uphold Nawrocki’s veto, according to TVP World.
The exchange’s leadership has sought to counter the narrative. CEO Przemysław Kral posted a statement and video on X (formerly Twitter) asserting Zondacrypto’s solvency and saying the company controls a bitcoin wallet holding roughly 4,500 BTC — about $330 million — but cannot move the funds because the private key was not handed over by the prior owner. Kral said the key, reportedly withheld by former CEO Sylwester Suszek during the 2021 transfer of what was then BitBay, remains inaccessible; Suszek has been missing for four years.
Customers and local media have flagged frozen or delayed withdrawals since late March, and blockchain analysis cited by Polish outlets paints a worrying picture: Recoveris, a blockchain intelligence firm, reported that bitcoin balances in hot wallets tied to Zonda have fallen by about 99% since mid‑2024. The wallet Kral published as proof of reserves shows no outgoing transactions on-chain and only 32 incoming transfers, reinforcing questions about liquidity and access.
Kral blamed a coordinated campaign — political pressure, aggressive media coverage and regulatory scrutiny — for triggering a rush of withdrawal requests that temporarily overwhelmed the platform. He said tens of thousands of withdrawal requests arrived in a short period and that the rollout of “new, advanced security and transaction monitoring systems” required manual verification of many transactions, slowing payouts. He denied any misuse of client funds and insisted the business remains profitable.
The controversy also reopens a series of long-standing red flags around the company. Investigative reporting in 2024 identified a 35% shareholder, named as Marek K., who was previously sentenced to eight years in prison for complicity in a 1995 gangland murder and fined 45 million zlotys ($12.5 million) for VAT fraud. In 2019, Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) put BitBay on a public warning list for unauthorized financial activity. And in January 2025, Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection launched an ongoing probe into BB Trade Estonia, Zonda’s owner, for allegedly violating collective consumer interests.
Amid the turmoil, Kral at one point threatened legal action against Polish news outlets reporting on reserves and withdrawals. For now, the combination of political allegations, regulatory probes and troubling on-chain metrics has intensified scrutiny of Zondacrypto and left customers and lawmakers alike demanding clarity about the exchange’s actual access to funds and its corporate governance.
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