The Mysterious Case of Sylwester Suszek: The Disappearance of the BitBay Founder

On March 10, 2022, Sylwester Suszek, the founder and former president of Poland’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, BitBay, disappeared without a trace. The 34-year-old crypto pioneer, known in the industry as the “King of Bitcoins,” was last seen at a fuel depot after a business meeting. From that day on, his shoulder and the entire crypto community plunged into a nightmare of uncertainty and speculation.

A Crypto Pioneer Vanishes Without a Trace

Despite extensive police investigations, there was no sign of Sylwester Suszek. The surveillance cameras at the fuel depot—coincidentally the last place he was seen—were malfunctioning on the day of his disappearance. A coincidence that raises questions. Public searches yielded no results, but for the bereaved, this was only the beginning of a much more terrifying odyssey. BitBay, the company founded by Suszek, made headlines not for innovative breakthroughs but for the mysterious disappearance of its founder.

An Independent Search by a Sister

Nicole Suszek, the missing man’s sister, was dissatisfied with the investigation results so far. She suspects her brother was kidnapped and murdered—without his body being found. Her independent research led to disturbing discoveries: Sylwester Suszek’s mobile phone connected to a network four days after his disappearance and was moving along a highway. A detail that sparked new hope and raised further questions.

But soon, threatening messages began to arrive, intensifying Nicole Suszek’s fears beyond endurance. An audio recording was received, with a voice resembling her brother’s—albeit electronically distorted. “He sounded like my brother, just somehow distorted,” Nicole recalls. In the recording, the voice pleaded for help and demanded Bitcoin worth about 12 million PLN, to be transferred to an address provided in a follow-up email.

Threatening Messages and Open Questions

The extortion attempt turned out to be part of a larger, darker pattern. An SMS accompanied the voice recording with a disturbing message: “This is no joke, in a week there will be a photo of the body.” Nicole Suszek did the right thing—she did not transfer the money.

Instead, she received further disturbing recordings with explicit threats of mutilation. Additional demands followed, some even urging her to bring her brother home by Easter—a cruelly absurd request for someone who lacked the means or knowledge to do so. Nicole Suszek continues to face threats, while official investigations into Sylwester Suszek’s case have come to a halt.

The family remains in the dark, answers elusive. The case of BitBay’s founder remains one of the most mysterious and disturbing chapters in cryptocurrency history—a warning sign of the potential dangers that wealth and fame can bring in a still young, sometimes lawless industry.