The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
Poland's Olympic committee lost its record sponsor to unpaid bonuses and a probe
The Polish Olympic Committee signed a record crypto deal with promised athlete bonuses. The sign came down, the money never arrived, and prosecutors probed.
PKOl · Zondacrypto · 2025-04
What happened
In late 2024 the Polish Olympic Committee signed what its president Radosław Piesiewicz called 'the largest sponsorship agreement in the history of Polish sport' with the cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto. The deal made Polish Olympians the first in the country to be offered medal bonuses in crypto — 100,000 zł for gold, 50,000 for silver, 25,000 for bronze at the Paris 2024 Games.
The glow did not last. Reports linked the exchange to a Russian oligarch, Polish prosecutors opened an investigation, and the promised bonuses to athletes including Tomasiak, Wąsek and Semirunniy never arrived. Piesiewicz gave Zondacrypto until the end of April to make good, warning the committee would otherwise break the contract.
The Zondacrypto sign came off the committee's Warsaw headquarters while the athletes waited for their money. A sponsorship that was announced as a record for Polish sport ended as a cautionary tale about checking whose money is on the shirt.
Why it happened
- A 'record' sponsorship is only as good as the counterparty; the committee promised athletes money backed by a company that could not withstand the same scrutiny.
- The bonuses were the point of the deal — the first crypto bonuses in Polish sport — so when the sponsor's money did not move, the failure was public and personal to named athletes.
- Once prosecutors were involved, every week of patience cost the committee more: the sign on the wall said the Olympic movement trusted a firm under investigation.
The lesson
A sponsorship is a promise to the athletes. When the money behind it cannot withstand scrutiny, the promise is the liability: the bonus offer is what makes the failure visible, personal and legal.
Aftermath
Polish prosecutors continued to investigate the matter. The episode left PKOl's leadership defending a deal that had been announced as historic and ended with its branding removed from the committee's own building.
Sources
- TVP World: Polish Olympians to receive cryptocurrency bonuses under new sponsorship deal
- TVP World: Polish Olympic boss warns it will pull plug on cryptocurrency platform if no funds are received
- TVP World: Zondacrypto sign removed from Polish Olympic HQ as athlete bonuses remain unpaid
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