Host of Poland's TV Republika Linked to PR Campaign for Collapsed Crypto Exchange Zondacrypto
An investigation has revealed that Sławomir Jastrzębowski, a presenter on Poland's Telewizja Republika, and other journalists tied to the channel were involved in shaping the image of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto and in efforts to silence its critics in exchange for money.
Investigation exposes ties between TV Republika and a crypto exchange
Polish outlets Wirtualna Polska and TVN24 have published an investigation based on materials recovered from electronic devices and accounts, contracts, money transfers and testimony from former employees, revealing that several people connected to the television channel Telewizja Republika were involved in public-relations work for the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto.
Sławomir Jastrzębowski, host of the program "Przyjaciele Republiki," was a member of a WhatsApp group called "zondacrypto Public Relations," created on 18 September 2025 by an exchange employee to coordinate protecting the company's image. According to what Zondacrypto's head, Przemysław Kral, reportedly told his staff, Jastrzębowski, together with intermediary Marcin Śmigielski, offered to "silence" a TVN24 reporter and other journalists covering the exchange in exchange for an advertising budget of roughly €5 million.
A PR agency run by former journalist Michał Krzymowski received €90,000 from a Kral-controlled company, under a contract that required keeping even the existence of the cooperation secret. Part of that money, according to people close to Kral, was described as being "for Dobski" — Marcin Dobski, co-author of the investigative program "Ściśle jawne" on Telewizja Republika. In November and December 2025, Dobski posted two series of messages on X attacking TVN24 reporter Michał Fuja and questioning a court verdict involving Zondacrypto's chief. In March 2026 he reportedly approached Kral directly, asking about a "support fund for talented journalists"; Kral replied there would be "something."
Investigators note a similar pattern in 2020, when Jastrzębowski headed the PR agency R4S, run by former PiS politician Adam Hofman — a period when TVN24's "Superwizjer" program was preparing a report on the exchange BitBay (later renamed Zondacrypto) and an intermediary tried to dissuade the reporter from publishing, first with an offer of money and then with threats; that intermediary was later convicted. According to Kral, it was actually Jastrzębowski who did the real work at the time, believing he had contacts at TVN.
The scandal unfolds against a broader backdrop: in the summer of 2025 Poland's parliament began drafting the country's first law regulating the crypto-asset market under the EU's MiCA regulation, to which Zondacrypto objected. As reported by Newsweek and wirtualnemedia.pl, it has also emerged that Telewizja Republika's president, Tomasz Sakiewicz, was — according to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's remarks in parliament — allegedly promised to secure a presidential pardon for Kral from President Karol Nawrocki in exchange for payments; Sakiewicz denies this. Zondacrypto was declared insolvent in April 2026.
