The defamation campaign of the Russian-controlled crypto payment processor Mercuryo against FinTelegram continues. In the summer of 2022, lawyers from Mercuryo had sent threats of legal action to FinTelegram, claiming that the reports were false. However, they were not. The Estonian regulator FIU revoked Mercuryo‘s crypto license. Mercuryo made false claims about FinTelegram and its operators in a statement to the FIU and is being sued for it.
The Revoked License & The Estonian Findings
Estonia’s FIU has revoked the crypto license of MoneySwap OÜ, the Estonian entity in the Mercuryo group. The FIU said that the ownership structure would not be transparent. Moreover, Mercuryo would not have been able to explain the group structure. FinTelegram has the certified English translation of the FIU statement. It states that Mercuryo could pose a threat to Estonia against the backdrop of applicable money laundering laws. In a statement to the FIU, Mercuryo claimed that the reports on FinTelegram would be false and also told the regulator lies about the operators of FinTelegram, FIU explains in its statement.
FinTelegram has therefore instructed its lawyers to file a lawsuit against Mercuryo.
The Austrian SLAPP Actions
In Austria, Mercuryo is suing the European Fund Recovery Initiative (EFRI) for the FinTelegram reports. Seriously? Yes, they do! The lawsuit, filed by Austrian lawyers Binder Groesswang, alleges that EFRI’s people would have control over FinTelegram. Unfortunately, this allegation, too, is false and will soon be heard in an Austrian court.
The question arises why an Austrian law firm would put itself at the service of a Russian-controlled crypto financial services provider and make accusations that are quite obviously fabricated. FinTelegram has already instructed its lawyers to investigate whether legal action can be taken against Binder Groesswang for this SLAPP attack.
The Russian Connections
Mercuryo, founded by the Russians Alexander Vasiliev, Greg Waisman, and Petr Kozyakov (Pictured left in the Moscow office), launched its business in 2018.
In April 2021, Mercuryo opened a state-of-the-art office in Moscow, developed by Kate Turbina, for dozens of workers. Despite this mind-blowing office, Mercuyo claims not to be a Russian but a London or Estonia-based company. Or Canadian? Or Lithuanian?
In fact, Mercuryo Group is allegedly managed through MRCR Holdings, registered in Cyprus. The latter also controls the FCA-regulated e-money institution Monetley Ltd.
In 2020 Mercuryo raised €2.5 million from Target Global, a venture capital firm founded by Alexander Frolov Jr, the son of the Russian oligarch Alexander Frolov Sr. In 2021, Target Global led a $7.5 million Series A finance round for Mercuryo. Target Global was founded in 2012 with $300 million backed by Russian investors. One of them was the Russian Invest AG (report here), owned by Alexander Frolov Sr. (Wikipedia) and Alexander Abramov (Wikipedia).
One of Mercuryo‘s partners is the notorious Russian payment platform Advcash, which FinTelegram has already discovered as a payment facilitator in dozens of broker scams. Advcash does a significant amount of its business with Russian clients. In December 2022, Mercuryo co-founder and CEO Petr Kozyakov proudly presented the new partner Advcash.
In November 2022, almost 50% of the referral traffic to Mercuryo’s website came from Advcash (screenshot right).
As of early May 2023, Similarweb shows that most referral traffic comes from crypto exchanges ByBit and MEXC which receive the most visitors from Russia.
Share Information
If you have any information about Mercuryo, its operators, and partners, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
Main point is: “If you have russian passport, no matter what you think, support and do, you should suffer, go to your country, go to war”.
No, it is not the main point. As a matter of fact, we are very well aware that the “Russian aggression” is the answer to the NATO expansion plans. The Western Sanctions may or may not be fair. This is not up to us to decide. However, we identified Mercuryo in scams and other questionable schemes as facilitating payment processors. What you try to do is to make them victims by being Russians. False!