Gate News message, April 16 — Zonda, a Polish-based cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed a critical crisis involving an inaccessible cold wallet containing approximately 4,503 Bitcoin, valued at around $334 million. CEO Przemysław Kral revealed the wallet address publicly for the first time today, stating that the private key was never transferred to the company during its takeover. The wallet's last on-chain transaction occurred in November 2025. Kral indicated that the key transfer was planned to be handled by Zonda's founder and former CEO Sylwester Suszek, who has been unreachable since March 2022.
The situation triggered a sharp spike in withdrawal requests. According to Kral, Zonda—which typically processes around 100,000 withdrawal requests annually—received more than 25,000 requests within just a few days around April 6th, driven by panic following negative media coverage. Blockchain analysis platform Recoveris flagged concerns about the exchange's hot wallet balance decline, warning of a possible bankruptcy risk. Polish authorities are reportedly investigating the exchange.
Kral denied allegations of fund misuse, asserting that Zonda holds over 4,500 Bitcoin and can fulfill all obligations. Polish lawmaker Tomasz Mentzen suggested on X that the cold wallet may be permanently lost due to Suszek's disappearance, though Kral stopped short of confirming the funds are definitively lost. Management announced plans to pursue legal action against what it termed unfounded allegations while pledging to process all pending withdrawals.
