Creditors of Zondacrypto, Poland's largest cryptocurrency trading platform, have begun a legal effort in Estonia to recover what remains of the exchange's assets following its collapse earlier this year.

Bankruptcy proceedings are taking place in the Baltic state, where the platform's operating entity was incorporated and where the first petition was filed — despite the company holding little money there, carrying massive debt, and doing almost no business in the country. For the exchange's customers, the outcome of these proceedings will largely determine whether, and how much of, their frozen funds ever come back.

Customers launch fight for Zondacrypto's cash and property

Clients and other creditors of the failed digital currency exchange have entered a difficult struggle to obtain and distribute its remaining assets. Their first meeting took place on Thursday in Tallinn, the Estonian capital where the operating entity was registered, amid uncertainty over how much can be recovered and how.

Only a handful of people were physically present in the courtroom, according to a report by the Polsat News channel, which was cited by Polish outlets including the web portal Interia. Those in attendance included the bankruptcy trustee of BB Trade Estonia OÜ and lawyers representing victims of the exchange's crash, while others joined remotely.

Margus Lentsius, the official appointed to administer the troubled company, described the meeting as a significant step forward in the bankruptcy proceedings. He told Polish media that the affected parties confirmed his appointment and elected a creditors' committee, which will collaborate with Estonian authorities. Such committees typically give creditors a formal voice in how the estate is administered, making the body a key point of contact for claimants as the process moves forward.

Lentsius emphasized that communication between Estonia and Poland is crucial to ensuring that creditors can recover as much of their lost funds as possible.

"So far, just under 2,000 creditors have filed claims, although that number will certainly rise," he said.

What happened to Poland's biggest crypto exchange?

Zondacrypto collapsed in the spring of this year after liquidity problems left customers unable to withdraw their funds or even access their accounts.

The exchange was founded in the Polish city of Katowice in 2014 under its original name, BitBay. It later relocated to Malta before eventually establishing its headquarters in Estonia. Although the company moved its main office out of Poland after appearing on a warning list issued by the country's financial watchdog in 2018, it remained focused primarily on the Polish market.

It grew into a leading trading venue for digital assets in Poland, a country with arguably the largest cryptocurrency sector in Central and Eastern Europe.

Early official estimates suggested the collapse may have affected more than 30,000 Poles, who lost at least $95 million. A number of arrests have been made in recent weeks.

Przemysław Kral, Zondacrypto's most recent CEO, went missing in April after denying the exchange was facing insolvency, but has since reportedly agreed to help authorities unravel the case. Kral accuses BitBay's founder, Sylwester Suszek, of never handing over the keys to a wallet containing 4,500 BTC. Suszek himself disappeared after Kral took over in 2021.

Where is Zondacrypto's money now?

Because Zondacrypto had virtually no clients in Estonia, its operator there has very little in funds that can be used to compensate victims. BB Trade is, in fact, heavily indebted.

Media reports revealed earlier in September that the company's debt stands at €432 million, while its assets have been valued at around €167,000, as highlighted by Bitcoin.pl this week — a disparity that shows how little of the money customers are chasing sits inside the bankruptcy estate itself, leaving the funds and property secured by investigators in Poland, France, and Switzerland as the other identified pools.

Poland's Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General, Waldemar Żurek, announced in late August that law enforcement had secured more than 100 million Polish złoty ($26 million) to satisfy future claims.

In July, French prosecutors seized €4 million ($4.5 million) under a court order, and according to sources in Tallinn, the asset seizure also covers real estate in France as well as Switzerland.

While there is almost nothing to confiscate in Estonia, the proceedings will continue in the Baltic nation because EU rules require bankruptcy cases to be conducted in the member state where they were initiated. The case against BB Trade began when a creditor from Austria filed the first petition in the country where the company is registered. The arrangement underscores a recurring feature of Europe's crypto industry: exchanges often register their operating entities in one member state while serving customers almost entirely in another, which can place insolvency proceedings far from the people owed money.

In May, Estonian financial authorities suspended the crypto firm's license, which had allowed it to operate Zondacrypto, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.

The deadline for submitting claims is October 27, and only creditors who file one with the bankruptcy trustee will be eligible to receive a portion of the recovered assets. In the weeks ahead, attention will center on how quickly the claim count grows toward that deadline, whether further assets can be traced in France and Switzerland, and how the parallel criminal investigation — in which arrests have already been made and Kral has reportedly agreed to cooperate — develops.

Damian Przybyłowski, a lawyer representing nearly 500 of Zondacrypto's clients, told media that the average size of the claims already officially registered is around 250,000 złoty, or more than $65,000.

According to an estimate produced by the financial news portal Money.pl, the total value of all claims may exceed €700 million (over $800 million) — far more than the judiciary's current calculations.