Exchange Zonda's cold wallet holding more than US$330 million in BTC cannot be accessed due to the private key being handed over

Exchange Zonda said one of its cold wallets holding 4,503 bitcoins (worth approximately $334 million) is currently inaccessible. Zonda CEO PrzemysławKral issued a video statement saying that the private key of the wallet was never handed over during the company handover. The private key was originally scheduled to be handed over by Zonda founder and former CEO Sylwest Suszek, but Sylwest Suszek has been missing since 2022. PrzemysławKral denied allegations of misappropriation of funds and said negative media reports triggered an unusual surge in withdrawal requests. Zonda plans to take legal action against misrepresentations and promises to fulfill its obligations to customers. The exchange will be renamed Zonda from BitBay in 2021.