Russian financial service providers have not had an easy time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Western sanctions have hit most of them hard. Despite the challenging landscape, CPS Group, with its crypto payment company CryptoPay, has managed to navigate the sanctions effectively. CPS Group‘s good rating, which was awarded by the cyber rating agency PayRate42, is particularly noteworthy.
CPS Group Key Data
| Trading name | CPS Transfers |
|---|---|
| Business activities | Payments Crypto Payments Crypto Exchange |
| Domains | https://cpstransfers.com https://cryptopay.me https://stockflare.com |
| Legal entities | CPS Transfers Limited CPS Payments UAB CPS Solutions OÜ Stockflare Securities Ltd Stockflare Analytics Ltd |
| Jurisdictions | UK, Estonia, Lithuania |
| Regulations | Authorized by UK FCA with Ref No 776056 Registered crypto businesses in Estonia and Lithuania |
| Key people | Dmitrii Guniashov (co-founder and CEO) Alexey Siderov (CFO) Pavel Makarenko (CTO) |
| PayRate42 rating | Green Compliance, Green Risk (PR42 profile for CPS Transfers) (PR42 profile for PayCrypto) |
| Last update | Aug 3, 2024 |
Short CPS Group Narrative
CPS Transfers Limited, incorporated in England and Wales, is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a Small Payment Institution (SPI) under reference number 776056. Founded in 2016 by Russian nationals, CPS Group also includes the crypto payment processor CryptoPay, which operates through registered entities in Estonia and Lithuania.
The central element of the CPS Group is obviously the crypto payment business, which is distributed across the entities in the group:
- CPS Solutions OÜ: Registered in Estonia with a crypto license issued by the Estonian FIU.
- UAB CPS Payments: Registered in Lithuania as a Virtual Currency Exchange Operator.
- CPS Transfers Limited: Authorized in the UK by the FCA as a Small Payment Institution (SPI).
In the EU, CryptoPay‘s Visa debit card is issued by DiPocket UAB, an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) authorized by the Bank of Lithuania (BOL) and a Principal Member of Visa.
The CPS Group‘s financial standing appears robust, according to the PayRate42 analysis:
- Share capital: €375,000 in Lithuania and Estonia.
- Lithuanian entity: Reported a net profit of more than €1.16 million for 2023.
- Estonian entity: Reported a taxable turnover of just under €2.2 million for 2024.
- British entity: Reported net assets of around GBP 361,000 at the end of 2022 despite making profits in previous years.
As far as we can tell from the publicly available documents in our OSINT analysis, the CPS Group people have not been resident in Russia for some time.
Business Model
The FCA-authorized CPS Transfers primarily manages debit cards issued via CryptoPay and handles associated transactions. CryptoPay offers a range of services to both private customers and merchants, including online wallets, cryptocurrency purchases, and payment processing. Merchants can accept and make payments in cryptocurrencies. CryptoPay also provides physical and virtual Visa cards, facilitating purchases with crypto balances.
The CPS Group‘s offering of Stockflare has been terminated a while ago.
High-Risk Segment Activity
CryptoPay has been identified as a payment processor in the online casino sector, including for illegally operating casinos like Zet Casino, PlayZilla, Dolly Casino, and Cazimbo. The website traffic analysis indicates that CryptoPay‘s activities are primarily focused on the high-risk segment. However, on the other hand: all fintechs and crypto payment processors are involved in the facilitation game around online casinos.
Rating Conclusion
The cyber rating agency PayRate42 has awarded CPS Group a very good rating. After a thorough review of annual financial statements and commercial register data, the agency concluded that CPS Group has a solid financial foundation and a profitable business model. Consequently, CPS Transfers and PayCrypto have been placed on the Green Compliance and Green Risk list by PayRate42.
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