Estonia’s FSA issues investor warning for Zondacrypto exchange over MiCA violation

Estonia’s financial regulator just put Zondacrypto on notice, and the timing could not be worse for an exchange already dealing with a law enforcement investigation in Poland and mounting customer complaints about locked funds.

The Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority (FSA) issued a formal investor warning against BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the Estonian-licensed entity that operates the Zondacrypto digital asset exchange. The violation: listing a crypto token called “TeamPL” without publishing the required white paper on its website, a direct breach of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.

What MiCA requires and where Zondacrypto fell short

MiCA mandates that any token listed on a trading platform must have a publicly accessible white paper before it can be offered to the public or admitted to trading. The FSA cited a violation of MiCA Article 9(1). Zondacrypto listed TeamPL without one.

Estonia, as an EU member state, is obligated to enforce MiCA across all crypto-asset service providers operating under its licensing regime. No financial penalties have been announced yet.

BB Trade Estonia OÜ has not publicly commented on the warning.

The bigger problem: frozen Bitcoin and withdrawal complaints

Polish law enforcement officials have been investigating the exchange over a wave of customer complaints about withdrawal delays. Users have reported being unable to access their funds.

At the center of the investigation: a cold wallet reportedly containing 4,500 BTC that is currently inaccessible.

Why this matters for EU crypto investors

For investors using Zondacrypto, the immediate concern is practical: can you get your money out? The reports of ongoing withdrawal delays suggest that for some users, the answer is currently no.

Estonia has been a popular jurisdiction for crypto licensing, with dozens of companies obtaining registrations there over the past several years. This enforcement action tests whether that licensing regime has teeth.