Estonian FIU | FinTelegram News

Category: Estonian FIU

July 29, 2022

Update On Russian High-Risk Payment Processor Payeer!

In March 2022, the Estonian FIU forced Russian-controlled Garantex Europe OÜ d/b/a Garantex to surrender its crypto license due to money laundering issues with Russia. However, many other FIU-licensed crypto payment processors controlled by Russians engage in illegal activities. One is the notorious scam facilitator and merchant service provider Payeer OÜ d/b/a Payeer, which apparently makes most of its transactions with customers from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to date. We exposed Payeer as a payment facilitator for several scams. Here is our July update.

July 28, 2022

Sanctioned Russian-Estonian Garantex Still Heavily Engaged in Russia Without License!

In March 2022, the Russian-controlled Estonian Garantex Europe OÜ had to surrender its crypto license. According to FIU findings, this crypto payment provider processed more than €5 billion annually, primarily for merchants from Russia and other high-risk countries. In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Garantex for ransomware activities for Russian gangs and added it to the OFAC's SDN list. However, in our 28 July 2022 review, the crypto exchange worked "normally" and still does most of its business in Russia and Belarus.

June 23, 2022

Estonian Crypto Regulator FIU Presents 2022 Update!

At the beginning of 2022, 381 valid crypto licenses have been recorded by the Estonia FIA. By June 15, 2022, the virtual asset service providers (VASP), licensed by the Estonian FIU, had applied amendments for 135 authorizations. While the regulator revoked 18 licenses, 94 service providers surrendered their authorizations in 2022. In 2021, 253 active VASPs had some 4.8 million clients and processed €20.3 billion within 12 months. 85% of this volume came from only 15 service providers, most of them have not submitted any reports of suspicious transactions.

June 23, 2022

Sanctioned Russian-Estonian Ransomware Facilitator Garantex Still Active!

In March 2022, the Russian-controlled Estonian Garantex Europe OÜ had to surrender its crypto license. Allegedly, this crypto payment provider processed more than €5 billion per year, mostly for merchants from Russia and other high-risk countries. In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Garantex for ransomware activities for Russian gangs and added it to the OFAC's SDN list. However, in our 23 June 2022 review, the crypto exchange changed the name of the legal entity and is still "working normally," as it reads on its website.

March 14, 2022

Attention! Russian crypto payment processor Payeer with Estonian license!

The FCA recently made clear that regulators worldwide are taking concerted action against crypto companies that violate Western Alliance sanctions against Russia. Cryptoasset firms must take steps to ensure their compliance with the sanctions. The Estonian FIU recently made sure that Russian-controlled Garantex Europe OÜ had its crypto license surrendered. However, there are plenty of other FIU-licensed crypto payment processors controlled by Russians that engage in illegal activities. One of them is Payeer OÜ, for example. Here is an update.

April 23, 2021

New – List of scam-facilitating Estonian crypto payment processors

Digital currencies are the future in one way or another. For a few months now, online payment pioneer PayPal has also been accepting bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. Estonia is currently the epicenter of European crypto payment processors. As of mid-2020, the Estonian FIU had issued more than 3,000 licenses (report here). Unfortunately, many of them are used to facilitate scams and illegal payment services. We have drafted a list of Estonian crypto payment companies that have come to our attention in scams.

April 23, 2021

Update PayTechno – Beneficial owner from Israel, another platform, and Bulgarian offices

We are really excited to be able to rely on our loyal whistleblowers. Therefore, we have received some important information in response to our Request 4 Information (R4I). Based on KYC data, we can establish that scam-facilitating PayTechno OÜ is controlled by an Israeli citizen as its beneficial owner. Besides, we have received information about the high-risk payment Gateway ironically branded as "The Best Gateway" offering payment gateway services for high-risk online merchants. The office of the group seems to be in Sofia, Bulgaria.

August 18, 2020

Stop it! The Estonian FIU and its improper dealing with crypto payment processors

Estonia has just over 1.3 million inhabitants and is said to have issued more than 3,000 crypto licenses by June 2020. According to the latest yearbook of the Estonian FIU, the authority issued 667 new licenses for crypto exchanges and 638 licenses for online wallet services in 2019. One can imagine how important cryptocurrencies and crypto licenses are for this small Baltic country. Lawyers and specialized consulting companies and their employees live off them. The FIU is obviously completely overstrained with this regulatory tsunami and should immediately order a stop to new licenses.