Between 2017 and 2020, thousands of crypto licenses have been issued in Estonia for the operation of exchanges and wallet (payment) services. Estonia has become the mecca of the crypto payment industry in the EU. Many of the new entrants have positioned themselves primarily as facilitators of illegal transactions and scams. In the last 12 months, hundreds of these new crypto providers have disappeared. In some cases, the FIU revoked their licenses or did not renew them. Zichain OÜ still has its license but has disappeared anyway.
Zichain OÜ is a crypto payment processor and exchange licensed by the Estonian FIU. Besides, the company is also licensed as a general financial services provider and is doing business as Zichain, Cryptoeye, and Rashbe. Currently, one can only conduct crypto transactions through Zachain. Rashbe is associated with scams like Swiss500 or ApcoFX. In turn, Swiss500 is closely associated with a Russian high-risk payment processor and its network.