Key Takeaways
Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has partially suspended the operating license of Zondacrypto operator BB Trade Estonia OÜ, giving the firm 30 days to fix compliance failures or face a full license revocation under the European Union's MiCA framework.
"If it fails to do so, the law obliges the FIU to revoke the operating license,” the Estonian regulator said in a statement on Monday. The FIU confirmed that the firm is now barred from accepting new clients or deposits, though existing users are still permitted to withdraw their funds.
The suspension of license FVT000209 follows a May 8 warning from Estonia’s Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority (FSA) that Zondacrypto’s “TeamPL” token violated the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) because it was listed without a required white paper. The FIU did not disclose the specific new breaches that triggered the suspension.
The action escalates the peril for Zondacrypto, which faces a separate fraud probe in Poland over 350 million zlotys ($95.9 million) in potential losses and user withdrawal freezes. The outcome of the 30-day compliance window will serve as a key test of the MiCA framework’s enforcement power over exchanges operating across EU borders.
The regulatory heat in Estonia compounds a series of crises for the exchange. Zondacrypto, founded in Poland as BitBay in 2014, has been registered in Estonia since 2019. It is currently at the center of a fraud investigation by Polish prosecutors, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk referencing around 30,000 potential victims and raising concerns over the exchange's possible links to Russian capital.
The crisis deepened after the exchange’s CEO reported that a cold wallet holding approximately 4,500 Bitcoin, worth around $346 million, was inaccessible, providing a potential explanation for widespread user withdrawal problems. Market data from CoinGecko shows minimal to no trading activity on the exchange as of Tuesday.
The enforcement action against Zondacrypto contrasts with the FSA's approval of other crypto participants. On Tuesday, the regulator issued a MiCA license to LHV Pank, one of Estonia's largest banks, signaling that the framework provides a path to compliant operations for financial institutions.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
