Russian mafia ties exposed as Polish exchange Zondacrypto failures continue
Zondacrypto, arguably the largest exchange on the Polish coin market, has been under the control of a notorious Russian gang, according to Polands counterintelligence. The troubled trading platform, which halted withdrawals this month amid insolvency fears, is at the focal point of a heated political clash in Warsaw over crypto regulation. Zonda allegedly run by the Tambov crime syndicate Poland‘s leading digital-asset exchange, Zondacrypto, has been controlled by the Tambov gang, one of Russia’s oldest and largest organized crime groups. The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza made the claim this week, citing information from the countrys Internal Security Agency (ABW) in a report widely quoted by Russian media. According to a memo circulated by the civilian intelligence service, the Russian mobsters acquired a controlling stake in the exchange back in 2018. They bought it through a Polish intermediary when the company was known as BitBay and was experiencing difficulties, the newspaper detailed in its article. The crypto exchange, one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, later relocated to Estonia and obtained a license from the Baltic state, but remained focused on Polish customers. The shares were officially purchased by three companies registered in the UAE, headed by BitBay co-founder Sylwester Suszek, GW also wrote. However, the deal was