Garantex Europe | FinTelegram News

Tag: Garantex Europe

November 29, 2023

FinCEN Exposes Binance’s Deep Ties with Sanctioned Russian Exchange, Implications for Ex-CEO Zhao’s Sentencing!

FinCEN's recent investigations into Binance have unearthed troubling revelations about the cryptocurrency exchange's longstanding collaboration with the Russian exchange Garantex, which has been embroiled in money laundering controversies. This partnership persisted even after Garantex Europe, based in Estonia, had its license revoked in February 2022 due to AML concerns and was subsequently placed on the OFAC sanctions list in April 2022.

September 15, 2023

Sanctioned Russian Crypto Payment Processor Garantex Still In Business!

Russian crypto payment processor Garantex lost its Estonian crypto license in March 2022 due to money laundering activities and was placed on the U.S. sanctions list last April. Customers still sign the user agreement with Estonian Garantex Europe OÜ (now Kihonzi Buzhaga OÜ), but the website now gives an address in Moscow City as its official headquarters. With the Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, Garantex founder Sergey Mendeleev established the Russian InDeFi SmartBank.

September 19, 2022

Sanctioned Crypto Payment Processor Garantex Continues To Grow While Founder Launches New Project!

In March 2022, the Russian-controlled Estonian crypto payment processor Garantex Europe OÜ had to surrender its crypto license for money laundering issues. It allegedly processed more than €5 billion annually, primarily for merchants from Russia and other high-risk countries. The U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Garantex but they seem unimpressed. Their business seems to boom, and Garantex founder Sergey Mendeleev announced a new DeFi venture.

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 10, 2022

The Russian €5 billion issue! Estonian Garantex Europe lost crypto license!

Garantex Europe OÜ used to be a licensed Estonian crypto payment processor moving more than €5 billion. It had close ties to Russia, a regulatory investigation found. The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) identified serious and systematic deficiencies in the company's KYC/AML procedures, which would have led to the revocation of the crypto license. Consequently, Garantex Europe OÜ surrendered its license.

The Unraveling of Rabidi and the Rise of the SoftSwiss Network: Our Updated Forensic Report

A few months ago, FinTelegram released a first forensic report on the bankruptcy of Rabidi N.V., a Curacao-registered online casino operator with hundreds of millions in revenues — and no traceable assets by the time of its collapse in May 2024. That report already raised serious questions about the opaque structures behind Rabidi’s operations and its successor, Liernin Enterprises Ltd.

DeFi Decoded: Smart Contracts – The Code Behind the DeFi Revolution

Smart contracts are the invisible architects of decentralized finance. These self-executing lines of code run everything from token swaps to lending platforms without middlemen. But while they offer autonomy, they also introduce new risks—bugs, exploits, and irreversible mistakes. In this fourth installment of our FinTelegram DeFi Series, we explain what smart contracts are.

CFTC

Despite New Crypto Friendlyness: No Settlement Between U.S. CFTC And KuCoin?

A planned settlement between the U.S.CFTC and crypto exchange KuCoin is now in limbo due to a reported policy shift within the CFTC. This change is attributed to the Trump administration’s new approach, which deprioritizes enforcement actions against crypto companies. As a result, a CFTC attorney said that it is "unlikely that such authorization will be granted in the near term" regarding the settlement approval.

SEC’s New Era: Paul Atkins Sworn In—Will Crypto Finally Get the Regulatory Clarity It Deserves?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has entered a new chapter with the swearing-in of Paul S. Atkins as its 34th Chairman, a move widely anticipated to mark a dramatic pivot in how the agency approaches crypto and DeFi regulation. For years, the financial industry—especially the burgeoning digital asset sector—has bristled under the SEC’s “Regulation by Enforcement” strategy.

Crypto Mogul Changpeng Zhao – Fallen, Rich, and Rising Again?

As spring 2025 blooms and Easter’s themes of rebirth fill the air, Changpeng Zhao emerges as one of the most controversial figures of startup mythology: a man who fell spectacularly, paid a price—then rose again, wealthier and louder than ever. Once the almighty architect of Binance, CZ now resides in Dubai with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $63 billion.