Zondacrypto in Italy is in full swing. In the background, there is a Polish investigation and PLN 350 million in losses

The Zondacrypto exchange has been officially registered in Italy; has the right to offer cryptocurrency exchange services and the so-called fiat currencies in accordance with Italian regulations, including tax regulations. It is subject to regulations of the financial supervision authority CONSOB and the mechanisms of the EU MiCA regulation on crypto-asset markets.

For Italian users, the company was registered as BB Trade IT with an address in Milan.

In Poland, since the beginning of April, the media have been reporting on Zondacrypto's liquidity problems, and on Sunday there was information about the resignation of three members of the supervisory board of the Estonian company BB Trade Estonia OÜ. Zondacrypto has never submitted applications for a license in Poland, but it has submitted such applications – as informed by its president, Przemysław Kral – in Estonia and Cyprus.

In July 2022, Zondacrypto announced that it had received a license in Italy to operate as a virtual asset services provider. This license was granted by the Italian advisory body Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM) – the Authority for Agents and Intermediaries, which manages the registers of financial agents, credit intermediaries and operators of virtual currency services. It is an institution of key importance for the regulation of the financial market in Italy. Zondacrypto is listed in the OAM register to this day.

In Italy, the Zondacrypto exchange was officially registered and, under the license received, received the right to offer cryptocurrency exchange services and the so-called fiat currencies in accordance with Italian regulations, including tax regulations. For Italian users, the company is registered as BB Trade IT with an address in Milan.

It advertised itself, among other things, as the official sponsor of the Giro d'Italia Women. It was not stated how many people in Italy use the platform. The Italian media does not report on her problems. The website is operational and continues to offer services.

On Friday, the Silesian prosecutor's office initiated an investigation into the Zondacrypto case. It is conducted, among others, for fraud of high value and money laundering. On Monday, the prosecutor's office indicated that we are currently talking about several hundred injured people. This number is constantly growing, as the amount of damage increases, the prosecutor's office said. On Friday, it was estimated at no less than PLN 350 million.

According to data published in early April by the portals money.pl and Wirtualna Polska, the exchange's bitcoin reserve has decreased by 99 percent, and users are reporting problems with withdrawing funds. The president of Zondacrypto, Przemysław Kral, said in a statement sent at that time that Zondacrypto is a stable, solvent and safe entity, and the money.pl analysis is “erroneous, untrue and unfair.” Last week, Kral announced that the exchange owned a portfolio of 4.5 thousand. bitcoins worth over $300 million, but the keys to them are held by the missing Sylwester Suszek, the founder of the BitBay exchange, the predecessor of Zondacrypto. Suszek, referred to as the “king of cryptocurrencies”, disappeared in March 2022 (PAP)

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