Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Polish prosecutors have so far identified several hundred possible victims and potential losses of at least 350 million zloty (€82.8 million) in an investigation into troubled cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto.
Their announcement comes amid a series of revelations about the firm, many of whose users have reported being unable to access funds. Last week, Zondacrypto’s entire oversight board resigned, while its CEO confirmed that they do not have access to a large crypto wallet set up by the firm’s founder, who is missing.
The case has also unfolded against a heated political backdrop, with Poland’s government accusing the opposition of having links to Zondacrypto and suggesting that this is why they have blocked efforts to introduce stronger regulation of the cryptocurrency market.
Rośnie liczba poszkodowanych na Zondacrypto. Klienci zgłaszają nowe straty https://t.co/yOF5qSiWXJ #kraj #kryptowaluta #prokuratura
— Onet Wiadomości (@OnetWiadomosci) April 20, 2026
Zondacrypto, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe, operates with an Estonian licence but serves a predominantly Polish customer base.
It began to come under scrutiny earlier this month amid reports of a sharp decline in visible bitcoin reserves and a surge in withdrawal requests from users.
The company has said it remains stable and solvent, and disputes negative media coverage. But concerns intensified following disclosures that only its founder, Sylwester Suszek, who is currently missing, has access to a cryptocurrency wallet containing 4,500 bitcoins (worth over €290 million at current rates).
Suszek founded the firm in 2014 under the name BitBay. In 2021, the business was sold to a US investor and later rebranded as Zondacrypto. Management passed to Przemysław Kral, under whom the firm expanded its presence through sponsorships, advertising and partnerships across sports and media.
Several months after the sale, in March 2022, Suszek disappeared after a business meeting. His fate remains unknown, and the case is still under investigation by Polish authorities.
According to Kral, Suszek never handed over to the new management the key to the 4,500-bitcoin wallet, leaving the funds effectively inaccessible following his disappearance.
W obliczu trwającej kampanii wymierzonej w @zondacrypto publikuję oświadczenie, w którym odnoszę się do kulis motywowanego politycznie ataku na naszą giełdę.
Podjąłem decyzję o upublicznieniu adresu portfela zawierającego 4500 bitcoinów o wartości 330 milionów dolarów, by uciąć… pic.twitter.com/iGel5749am
— Przemysław Kral (@przemyslaw_kral) April 16, 2026
Following recent media reports, all members of the supervisory board of BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the company operating Zondacrypto, resigned last week.
The departing board members – Veronika Togo, Guido Buehler and Georgi Džaniašvili – pointed to concerns about potential issues with customer withdrawals and the availability of assets.
They also noted that their attempts to clarify the situation revealed “material inconsistencies” which led them to conclude that they could no longer properly carry out their supervisory duties.
Meanwhile, prosecutors this month opened proceedings into alleged irregularities at Zondacrypto following media reports and notifications from users who say they have been unable to access their money.
“We are currently talking about several hundred people, but this number is constantly growing” as more complainants come forward, said Michał Binkiewicz, a spokesman for prosecutors, quoted by broadcaster TVN.
“To the best of our knowledge, the scale of the possible fraud is very large – the amount reported on Friday, approximately 350 million zloty, is constantly growing,” he added.
Dziś Prokuratura Regionalna w Katowicach wszczęła śledztwo w sprawie ZondaCrypto.
Sprawa jest poważna. Chodzi o podejrzenie oszustwa i prania pieniędzy. Do prokuratury spływają zawiadomienia z całej Polski od ludzi, którzy wpłacili pieniądze i nie mogą ich odzyskać.
Liczby są… pic.twitter.com/dJmTiYTaNm
— Waldemar Żurek (@w_zurek) April 17, 2026
Zondacrypto has also come under political scrutiny, with senior officials suggesting possible links to illicit financial networks.
During a speech in parliament last week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk alleged that the company’s financial success was “rooted not only in Russian money linked to…one of Russia’s most powerful mafia groups, but also to the Russian security services”, reported TVN24.
Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister responsible for the security services, claimed, meanwhile, that funds linked to the platform’s ownership were used to fund political and public initiatives in Poland linked to the right-wing opposition, including sponsorship of the conservative CPAC Poland conference.
He further alleged that donations had been made to foundations and individuals associated with opposition figures, including the Institute of Polish Sovereignty (Instytut Polski Suwerennej) linked to former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who last year fled criminal charges in Poland and obtained asylum in Hungary.
The institute has rejected allegations of improper funding or wrongdoing.
💬 Premier @DonaldTusk ⤵️
Mówimy o wypłacie prawie 500 tys. zł dla fundacji pana Zbigniewa Ziobry – i to w trakcie, kiedy rozstrzygano o losach ustawy, która miała regulować rynek kryptowalut. Fundacja związana z panem Wiplerem również była beneficjentem środków pochodzących ze… pic.twitter.com/fWl9FQUwF4
— Kancelaria Premiera (@PremierRP) April 17, 2026
The dispute has fed into a wider political row following two recent vetoes by opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki of government bills intended to introduce tougher regulation of the crypto market.
“When the president decided to cast his second veto on the same bill, he had full knowledge – just as I do – of the company’s [Zondacrypto’s] background, its financial difficulties and its links to Polish politics,” Tusk said in parliament on Friday.
However, earlier this month, Sławomir Mentzen, one of the leaders of the far-right opposition Confederation (Konfederacja) party, which also opposed the government bills, claimed that, because Zondacrypto is registered in Estonia, it is not under the supervision of Polish regulators anyway.
He also noted that the government’s bills would not have gone into force until June 2026, meaning that they would not have prevented any wrongdoing by Zondacrypto. He criticised the government for not putting forward crypto regulation earlier.
President Nawrocki has for the second time vetoed a government bill aiming to regulate the crypto-assets market in Poland
He argues that the measures are too onerous but the government says they are necessary to protect consumers and for national security https://t.co/1phQCiXlfO
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 13, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Zondacrypto (press materials)
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
