Sylwester Suszek, founder of the Polish crypto exchange BitBay, disappeared on March 10, 2022. Four years later, the exchange he built has been rebranded twice, his sister is leading a public campaign to find him, and Polish prosecutors have merged his missing-person investigation with a probe into the exchange’s finances.
The case sits at the intersection of crypto’s recurring governance nightmares and something far darker: potential links to organized crime, roughly 4,500 BTC reportedly under one person’s control, and an exchange that kept changing its name while questions about its founder went unanswered.
The day Suszek vanished
Suszek’s last confirmed location was a fuel base in Czeladzi, Poland, where he met with an associate identified as Marian W. His phone signal dropped shortly after 15:08 that afternoon. His white Porsche Taycan was later found abandoned.
Marian W. was subsequently linked to organized crime. By late 2024, he faced kidnapping charges, though the full scope of his alleged involvement in Suszek’s disappearance remains under investigation.
Despite years of police work, Suszek has not been found. No body has been recovered. No confirmed sighting has surfaced. The case remains officially open and unresolved.
From BitBay to Zonda to Zondacrypto
Suszek founded BitBay in 2014, and at its peak the platform reportedly generated billions in monthly trading volumes. It became one of the largest crypto exchanges in Central Europe.
The exchange rebranded to Zonda in 2021, a year before Suszek’s disappearance. By 2023, it had rebranded again to Zondacrypto, with Przemysław Kral installed as the new president overseeing operations.
The core concern for traders was straightforward: approximately 4,500 BTC were believed to be under Suszek’s personal control. At current prices, that stash would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If Suszek is the only person with access to those keys, the funds could be effectively frozen, a scenario that echoes the QuadrigaCX disaster in Canada, where the death of founder Gerald Cotten left roughly $190 million in crypto inaccessible.
Investigations converge
By 2026, Polish authorities took a significant step: they merged the criminal investigation into Suszek’s disappearance with a broader financial probe into Zondacrypto’s operations. The combined investigation has involved data seizures across multiple jurisdictions, including Estonia and Malta.
Nicole Suszek, Sylwester’s sister, has become the most visible figure in the search for answers. She has launched public appeals for information, initiated legal actions, and maintained pressure on authorities to keep the case active. Private investigators hired by affected investors have also been working alongside official channels.
What this means for crypto in Poland and beyond
The organized crime dimension adds another layer of concern. If the allegations connecting Marian W. to Suszek’s disappearance are substantiated, it would represent one of the most direct and violent intersections of traditional organized crime with the crypto industry in Europe.
If the 4,500 BTC are confirmed to be inaccessible, Zondacrypto faces a solvency question that no rebrand can answer. If the funds can be traced and recovered, it may provide some relief to users, but the circumstances of their founder’s disappearance will remain a permanent shadow over whatever the exchange calls itself next.