They did it again: another press release. FinTelegram dissects the Dream Finance/CoinsPaid network—an Austrian-fronted, Baltic-based crypto processor whose glossy PR masks a web of gambling interests, Russian capital, and whistle-blower claims of large-scale laundering. However, the background story is a quite different one.
5 KEY POINTS
- High-Risk Wrapper – CoinsPaid & sister brand CryptoProcessing are merely labels; real operations sit in Estonia (Dream Finance OÜ), Lithuania (Dream Finance UAB), and Poland (Dream Payments Sp. z o.o.).
- Front-Seat Faces – CEO Max Krupyshev, Ukrainian national resident in Germany, drives the public narrative, while co-founder Ivan Montik holds the purse strings.
- Casino DNA – Montik also founded SoftSwiss, a major i-gaming platform reportedly dominated by Russian investors.
- Reputation-Laundering Playbook – Success stories are blasted via coordinated press releases—classic “announce-then-repeat” strategy to drown out risk signals.
- Insider Red Flag – A former manager alleges the group is “used for massive money laundering,” yet regulators remain largely silent.
Read the Ivan Montik profile here.
SHORT NARRATIVE
CoinsPaid, trumpeted as Europe’s fastest-growing crypto payment gateway, sits atop a tri-jurisdictional scaffold of shell entities branded “Dream Finance.” The firm’s relentless PR cycle highlights record transaction volumes and new merchant wins, but glosses over its deep ties to online gambling powerhouse SoftSwiss, Russian money, and an ownership chain designed for opacity. Behind the celebratory headlines lies a structure tailor-made for regulatory arbitrage.
EXTENDED ANALYSIS
Legal & Licensing Gaps
- Estonia & Lithuania issue crypto-asset service licences with comparatively light AML oversight; CoinsPaid leverages these “regtech-lite” jurisdictions while marketing to higher-risk verticals (gambling, adult, high-yield schemes).
- Poland’s Dream Payments Sp. z o.o. provides an EU payments passport, yet Polish KNF records reveal minimal capital and skeleton staffing—suggestive of a pass-through entity.
Regulatory Blind Spots
- Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) filings list Montik, but Russian backers behind SoftSwiss remain undisclosed—a critical gap given current EU sanctions frameworks.
- PR Armor acts as soft influence: repeated announcements in trade media create a veneer of legitimacy that can lull compliance officers and journalists alike.
Operational Red Flags
- Concentration Risk: Same tech stack (Merkeleon white-label) runs both gambling platforms and “legit” merchants—blurring transactional origin.
- Effective Control vs. Nominal Seats: Krupyschev is CEO, yet key strategic decisions purportedly require soft-signoff from Montik’s SoftSwiss board—classic indicator of shadow governance.
ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
Regulators should perform an immediate source-of-funds audit on Dream Finance entities and cross-match CoinsPaid merchant flows with SoftSwiss casino payouts. A fast-track joint review (Estonia-Lithuania-Poland) could pierce jurisdictional silos and surface potential sanction breaches tied to hidden Russian stakes.
CALL FOR INFORMATION
Have you processed, audited, or investigated CoinsPaid/CryptoProcessing transactions? Share your information with FinTelegram via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
