Polish prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into crypto exchange Zondacrypto after reports that CEO Przemysław Kral traveled to Israel while authorities investigate alleged fraud and investor losses. Media coverage says Kral has been in Israel for about a week and holds Israeli citizenship, a factor that could complicate any effort to bring him back to Poland. Cointelegraph also reported that an email address previously used to contact Kral is no longer reachable.
The inquiry follows Kral’s recent admission that a Zondacrypto cold wallet said to contain roughly 4,500 Bitcoin had become inaccessible. That statement was the CEO’s last known public communication before the new reporting. Polish prosecutors told reporters they have identified several hundred potential victims and estimate losses of at least 350 million złoty (around $97 million), according to prosecutor spokesperson Michał Binkiewicz and reporting from Notes from Poland.
Zondacrypto, while much smaller than global platforms such as Binance, is one of the largest exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe and serves a sizable Polish client base. The exchange is registered in Estonia but maintains a strong operational presence among Polish-speaking customers, which prompted Poland’s authorities to act after receiving complaints from local users.
Tensions have increased as supervisory board members at BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the Estonian entity operating the platform, resigned. Former board member Georgi Džaniašvili wrote on LinkedIn that the board learned about the full scale of the crisis through media reports rather than internal briefings and pointed to ‘material inconsistencies’ between public statements and information available to the board. Džaniašvili said the concentration of ownership and executive control in a single individual undermined transparency, timely communication, and mutual trust—factors essential for effective oversight.
Zondacrypto’s origins trace back to Katowice in 2014 when it was founded as BitBay by Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2022. In public remarks, Kral attributed the cold wallet access issues to Suszek.
The case has taken on political overtones in Poland. Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly raised concerns about possible links between Zondacrypto’s past and Russian capital or influence, warning that as many as 30,000 users could be affected and comparing the episode to earlier financial scandals. Tusk also criticized delays in adopting investor-protection measures under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, arguing that the lack of a comprehensive legal regime limited earlier intervention.
Beyond Poland, the situation could shape how EU regulators apply MiCA and design crypto supervision. Some member states are pushing for more centralized oversight at the EU level rather than relying solely on national enforcement, and the Zondacrypto affair is likely to add momentum to that debate.
Polish authorities continue their investigation and have not publicly detailed all measures under consideration. The unfolding events have intensified scrutiny of Zondacrypto’s governance and operational practices as regulators, users, and political leaders seek clarity on the scope of losses and the prospects for investor recovery.