Zondacrypto collapse: €432 million in debt and what affected clients should do
Deadline: 27 October 2026
If you held funds on Zondacrypto, you have until 27 October 2026 to file your claim with the Estonian insolvency trustee. Claims filed after that date fall to the lowest priority of satisfaction. See What affected clients should do.
Zondacrypto — formerly BitBay — was for years the largest crypto exchange in Poland, serving close to a million clients. On 27 August 2026 an Estonian court declared its operator bankrupt. 99.7% of the bitcoin held in the exchange’s wallets had vanished, liabilities reach €432 million, and the keys to a wallet holding 4,500 BTC were held solely by the founder, who disappeared in 2022.
This is a condensed summary for non-Polish readers. Our full compendium, including the complete timeline and detailed guidance, is available in the Polish version.
The key facts
- Operator: BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the Estonian company running the Zondacrypto exchange.
- Bankruptcy: declared 27 August 2026 by Harju County Court in Tallinn (case 2-26-14436, judge Priit Lember).
- Trustee: Estonian attorney Margus Lentsius.
- Liabilities: at least €431,944,000. Filed claims may exceed €700 million.
- Missing assets: between late 2025 and early 2026, 99.7% of the bitcoin disappeared from the exchange’s wallets.
- Criminal investigation: opened 17 April 2026 by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice, Poland — fraud of significant value and money laundering, covering conduct from 2022 onwards.
- Claim deadline: 27 October 2026.
What happened
The exchange was founded in March 2014 as BitBay by Sylwester Suszek together with Mateusz Bajer and Jacek Rogoż, and grew into Poland’s dominant crypto venue. After being placed on the Polish financial supervisor’s public warning list, the business migrated abroad — first to Malta, then Estonia — and rebranded as Zondacrypto. That migration matters now: the insolvency runs under Estonian law, not Polish.
Sylwester Suszek disappeared in March 2022, aged 33. The case remains unexplained. Critically, the keys to a wallet containing 4,500 BTC — worth over $300 million — were held by him alone. The wallet belongs to the estate, but without the private keys those assets are unreachable by anyone, regardless of any court ruling.
Between late 2025 and early 2026 almost all remaining bitcoin left the exchange’s wallets. Withdrawal complaints escalated through early 2026; in April the investigative firm Recoveris reported reserves down by 99%, and the Katowice prosecutor opened an investigation. Insolvency was, according to the findings, already permanent by the first quarter of 2026.
The underlying mechanism is worth understanding, because it repeats in every such collapse: crypto held on an exchange is not yours in the way bank deposits are. You are a creditor of the company. Where a venue does not fully back client assets and is not supervised under rules forcing their segregation from company funds, insolvency leaves you queuing with every other creditor. That segregation requirement is one of the pillars of the EU’s MiCA regulation — which Zondacrypto never held a licence under.
What affected clients should do
1. File your claim with the trustee — by 27 October 2026
This is the only route to participating in any distribution from the estate. Claims go to trustee Margus Lentsius in the required form and within the deadline. A late claim, even if accepted, falls to the last rank of satisfaction — which in practice usually means no payment.
Prepare: account identifiers, a full exported transaction history, bank confirmations of deposits and withdrawals, dated screenshots of balances and failed withdrawal attempts, and all correspondence with support.
2. Report to the prosecutor
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice has published official instructions for affected parties and instructed district prosecutors across its jurisdiction to accept reports. Victim status in the criminal proceedings is separate from creditor status in the insolvency, and carries different rights.
3. Secure your evidence now
Access to the exchange panel can be restricted at any time. Export and store everything locally while you still can — transaction history, balances, correspondence, transfer confirmations. Both the trustee and the prosecutor will need this material.
4. Check the tax treatment
Losing access to assets is not the same as disposing of them, and the tax treatment of crypto losses is specific to each jurisdiction. Take your documentation to a tax adviser rather than assuming.
Realistic prospects of recovery
The honest answer: hard to estimate today, and caution is warranted. The estate is described as nearly empty against €432 million in liabilities, with filed claims possibly exceeding €700 million. The largest single asset — the 4,500 BTC wallet — remains unreachable without the private keys. Insolvency proceedings also run for years before any distribution.
None of this means you should skip filing. Filing on time is the precondition for any participation at all. It does mean treating promises of fast, full recovery with scepticism.
Beware of recovery scams
Every high-profile collapse attracts “fund recovery” operators preying on victims. The Katowice prosecutor issued a separate warning about this.
Stop the conversation if you encounter:
- an upfront fee for “recovering funds” or “unblocking an account”,
- a request for login details, private keys or a seed phrase — no legitimate institution ever asks,
- unsolicited contact from an unknown party that “knows about your case”,
- a guaranteed return within a stated timeframe,
- a request for remote access to your computer.
The insolvency is handled solely by the court-appointed trustee, and the criminal case by the prosecutor. Nobody else has a faster route to your money.
What this case teaches
The warning signs were visible in advance, and they are the same ones worth checking anywhere:
- entry on a supervisor’s public warning list, followed by migration abroad,
- no MiCA licence, and a refusal from a regulator in another member state,
- no published proof of reserves,
- an opaque ownership structure and shifting jurisdictions,
- mounting complaints about withdrawal delays — a signal that preceded the collapse by months.
Our guide on how to verify a licence explains how to check any venue, and our crypto exchange section lists the platforms currently holding a MiCA licence.
What is the deadline for filing a claim against Zondacrypto?
27 October 2026. The period is two months from the bankruptcy declaration of BB Trade Estonia OU on 27 August 2026. Claims filed later fall to the lowest rank of satisfaction.
Who is the insolvency trustee?
Estonian attorney Margus Lentsius, appointed by Harju County Court in Tallinn in case 2-26-14436.
How much money is missing from Zondacrypto?
Liabilities amount to at least 431,944,000 euro and filed claims may exceed 700 million euro. Some 99.7 percent of the bitcoin held in the exchange wallets disappeared.
Will I get my money back?
It is hard to estimate. The estate is described as nearly empty, and the largest asset, a wallet holding 4,500 BTC, is unreachable because the keys were held by the founder who disappeared in 2022. Filing a claim on time remains the precondition for any distribution.
Position as of September 2026. This article is informational and organises publicly available court, prosecutor and media findings. It is not legal or tax advice — consult a qualified professional on your individual case. Deadlines and findings may change; confirm the current position with the trustee or the prosecutor before acting.
