Monday, November 25, 2024

Update On PrimeXBT Crypto Trading Scheme And Its Russian Connections

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We recently brought the first review about PrimeXBT and explained that one of the controlling persons behind it is Dmitrij Pruglo who also runs the Malta-registered blockchain software company Covesting International Limited with Tim Voronin. Via Twitter, @braisincapital subsequently provided us with information showing that Pruglo and his partners have other companies and also own Gensaga Capital in Moscow via their Cyprus-based Wisdom Rocks Holdings Ltd. Here is an update!

The Update

The Twitter community has sent us information that shows that the people behind PrimeXBT have indeed established a worldwide network of companies. Dmitry Pruglo, through his DP Wealth Temple Ltd in the Seychelles, also has control over Wisdomrock Holdings Ltd, registered in Cyprus, which in turn, along with Sergey Vorodin, is the founder of Gensaga Capital in Moscow.

Key Data

Trading namePrimeXBT
(powered by Covesting)
Business activityOffshore multi-asset and CFD broker
Domainshttps://primexbt.com
https://primexbt.ch

https://covesting.io
Telegram channelCoinvesting channel link
Legal entityPrime XBT Trading Services LLC
PXBT Trading Ltd (prev. Novox Capital Ltd)
PXBT EU Ltd
Covesting International Limited
DP Wealth Temple Ltd
Wisdomrock Holdings Ltd
OOO Gensaga Capital (ООО ГЕНЗАГА КЭПИТАЛ)
JurisdictionSt. Vincent & The Grenadines
Cyprus, Malta, Seychelles, Russia
AuthorizationGibraltar FSC license for DLT
No authorization for financial services under MiFID II
Payment optionsCrypto, Crypto via credit/debit card
Payment processorCoinfiny, Paxful
Related individualsDmitrij Pruglo (LinkedIn)
Tim Voronin (LinkedIn)
Sergey Voronin

A Short Narrative

PrimeXBT claims to be a leading Bitcoin-based trading platform for active traders in over 150 countries offering CFD trading on instruments like Bitcoin, gold, oil, the S&P 500, forex, and more.

Covesting, developed by Gibraltar-based Covesting International Limited, is a peer-to-peer (P2P) copy trading module that connects new traders or inexperienced investors that wouldn’t otherwise trade with skilled traders and professional strategy managers from around the global trading community. Covesting is available exclusively on PrimeXBT.

The Regulatory Issue

Covesting is a fully licensed Distributed Ledger Technology Services Provider (DLT) operating under the supervision of Gibraltar FSC with license no. FSC1328B.

When registering at PrimeXBT, the website informs that the scheme is not regulated by an EU regulator and falls outside the EU regulatory framework. Its clients are not eligible for an Investor Compensation Scheme. We currently have no information on whether the new shareholders of the former Novox Capital intend to reactivate the CySEC license, but we assume they do. Otherwise, it would be incomprehensible why they would take over a CySEC-regulated CIF.

Regulatory Warning

In December 2021, the Italian regulator Consob issued a warning against PrimeXBT, noting that St. Vincent & The Grenadines-registered company does not have permission to offer its crypto-based financial services. The regulator apparently had no indication of the link between Covesting and PrimeXBT. This is understandable, as PrimeXBT‘s website fails to disclose who is behind the trading platform. Only the offshore entity in St. Vincent & The Grenadines is stated.

Similarweb Snapshot

The crypto-based trading platform is quite successful if you look at the latest Similarweb data. In the last 28 days before December 23, 2022, more than 590,000 people have visited the website with no regional focus. Visitors come from Turkey, Germany, India, the US, and other jurisdictions.