The disappearance of Zondacrypto chief executive Przemysław Kral is no longer the strangest part of the exchange’s collapse.
Polish outlet Onet Wiadomości has reported that Kral was not the person who really controlled the business. Citing a source familiar with the investigation at Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office, Onet identified Marian W., known as “Maniek,” as the exchange’s actual creator and principal and described Kral as a front man.
That allegation has not been established in court. The available reporting also does not establish that Marian W. has been charged specifically with secretly controlling Zondacrypto. Separate Polish reporting, however, says he has faced charges involving alleged organized-crime activity and in connection with the disappearance of BitBay founder Sylwester Suszek.
The distinction matters because Zondacrypto was not an anonymous offshore exchange. Its operating company, BB Trade Estonia OÜ, held an Estonian virtual-currency licence until regulators revoked it in June.
FinanceFeeds has followed the exchange through its reserve crisis, Kral’s disappearance and the regulatory fallout. The latest reporting changes the question from where the money went to who was actually making decisions inside the business.
Polish Reporters Say Kral Was the Front Man
Onet reported in May, with its Zondacrypto coverage updated again on August 21, that Marian W. accompanied Kral as the company moved through Monaco, Israel and Dubai.
The outlet’s source at Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office described Marian W. as the real creator and boss of the exchange and Kral as only his “słup,” a Polish term used for a nominal or proxy figure. Onet said investigators had traced payments placing the men in Dubai.
That account resurfaced with new force on Sunday after The New York Times published a detailed investigation into Zondacrypto’s collapse and the disappearance of two successive men who had run the business. The Times reported that Kral has not been publicly heard from since an April 16 video in which he tried to reassure customers and claimed Zondacrypto had about 4,500 Bitcoin worth more than $330 million.
The exchange’s website later went dark.
Kral’s Location Is Less Certain Than the Israel Story Suggested
Earlier reports placed Kral in Israel, where he holds citizenship. That version was plausible partly because extraditing an Israeli citizen to Poland could be difficult, a point Polish lawyers raised after his departure became public.
Onet later reported that Kral and Marian W. moved on to Dubai and were there with their families.
But Kral’s exact location should not be treated as confirmed.
The New York Times said Sunday there have been unconfirmed sightings in Israel, Botswana and Dubai, while a lawyer representing Zondacrypto customers told the paper he believed Kral might instead be in Southeast Asia.
There is another complication. Polish media reported on August 23 that Kral has been cooperating with prosecutors for months and may have received the status commonly described as a “small crown witness.” Earlier Onet reporting said meetings with prosecutors had taken place in Dubai, Sicily and Poland. Those claims have not yet been confirmed in a new public statement from the Katowice Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Calling him simply “missing” therefore no longer captures the whole picture.
What a Front Man Would Mean for the Estonian Licence
BB Trade Estonia OÜ operated Zondacrypto under Estonian virtual-currency licence FVT000209.
On May 6, Estonia’s Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority publicly warned that a white paper for the TeamPL token offered by BB Trade Estonia was missing from the company’s website, contrary to MiCA disclosure requirements. The regulator’s notice listed Kral as a member of the company’s management board.
The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit then partially suspended BB Trade Estonia’s licence on May 18, barring it from taking additional client assets or opening new customer relationships. On June 29, the FIU revoked the licence after saying the company had failed to respond to or comply with its supervisory order.
If Onet’s account of an undisclosed real controller is correct, it raises a separate governance question: whether the individuals disclosed as running the licensed entity reflected who actually exercised control over it.
That remains an allegation for investigators to establish.
The BitBay Story Started With Another Disappearance
Zondacrypto began as BitBay in 2014 under Sylwester Suszek, who later handed control to Kral as the business was rebranded.
Police records fix Suszek’s disappearance at March 10, 2022, rather than March 20. Police said he left home that morning for a business meeting in Czeladź and vanished after leaving the meeting at about 3 p.m.
Onet reported that the meeting took place at a fuel facility linked to Marian W., where Suszek kept or refuelled his helicopter. Investigators cited by the outlet believe Suszek is dead, although his body has never been found.
That history now sits beside Kral’s disappearance from public view four years later.
Poland and Estonia Still Have Work to Do
The Katowice Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened its Zondacrypto investigation on April 17 into suspected fraud and money laundering. By June 22, prosecutors said they had received more than 3,600 complaints, questioned nearly 1,000 alleged victims and secured more than 250 terabytes of data. Poland and Estonia also created a joint investigation team.
FinanceFeeds covered Poland’s attempt to build a domestic MiCA framework when the Sejm passed another crypto-market bill on May 15. FinanceFeeds’ May 15 MiCA coverage The legislation was later vetoed again and remains unfinished, although the EU’s MiCA authorization rules apply directly after the July 1 transition deadline.
Estonia has already acted on Zondacrypto’s old licence. Polish prosecutors are now trying to establish who controlled the exchange, where customer assets went and what role each person around the company actually played.
If Onet’s account is borne out, Kral’s disappearance may end up being only the visible layer of the Zondacrypto story.