Polish leader Tusk claims Russia-linked crypto firm backed Nawrocki’s presidential bid
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a cryptocurrency firm founded with “Russian money” sponsored Polish politicians from the former national conservative government and sponsored a CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event held in Poland last year. Here, former US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem openly supported nationalist Karol Nawrocki to win the Polish presidency.
Tusk was speaking in the Polish parliament on Friday ahead of a parliamentary vote to overrule Nawrocki, who rejected regulations on the Polish crypto-asset market. Nawrocki vetoed two separate attempts by the Liberal government to regulate this market in the last six months.
Tusk claimed that the fact that the regulations were blocked by some Polish politicians showed that they served the interests of Zondacrypto, a particular company with ties to Russia that has provided financial support to them in the past.
“The source of this company’s financial success is not only Russian money linked to the Bratva, one of Russia’s most important mafia groups, but also connections to Russian secret services,” Tusk said in his speech to parliament.
Tusk said Zondacrypto also “sponsors political and social events in Poland and supports very specific political forces”; this includes financing politicians from the former ruling Law and Justice Party as well as the far-right Confederation.
Tusk also said Zondacrypto is a strategic sponsor of the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the leading conservative gathering in the United States, in Rzeszow in eastern Poland in March 2025. This meeting took place just five days before the presidential election in Poland, a tight clash between a candidate from Tusk’s liberal camp and Nawrocki, supported by Law and Justice.
During that meeting, then-U.S.
Noem, one of Trump’s leading allies, said in her speech at the event, “We need you to elect the right leader.” “You will be the leaders who will return Europe to conservative values.”
Tusk also said that Nawrocki was “fully aware” of all the details regarding Zondacrypto when deciding to veto new crypto regulations.
In response to Tusk’s accusations, the head of the presidential office, Zbigniew Bogucki, said that Nawrocki was not against the need to regulate the crypto-asset market, but only the “flawed regulatory model” proposed by the government.
Confederation leader Slawomir Menzen said the new law would “destroy the Polish cryptocurrency market.”
The government says the new regulations aim to bring Poland into line with European Union rules on crypto assets.
