In March 2022, the Russian-controlled Estonian Garantex Europe OÜ had to surrender its crypto license. The crypto payment provider processed more than €5 billion annually, primarily for merchants from Russia and other high-risk countries. The U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Garantex and added it to the OFAC‘s SDN list. The Belize-based high-risk payment processor Advcash, too, seems to have a very strong client base in Russia, according to the latest Similarweb statistics.
Key Data
| Trading name | Advcash |
| Business activity | Payment processor and e-wallet provider |
| Domain | https://advcash.com |
| Legal entity | Advanced Cash Limited |
| Jurisdiction | Belize |
| Regulator | Belize Financial Services Commission (FSC), licenses MT 000107/97, PPS 000107/98. |
| Related individuals | Yaacov Bitton (LinkedIn) |
| PayRate42 | Advcash profile on PayRate42 (orange) |
Short Narrative
Over the last three years, we have found Advcash in many illegal broker activities as a payment processor. These included both scams and illegal offshore activities of regulated brokers (mostly CySEC-regulated). Advcash, like Perfect Money or Garantex, is closely connected to the Russian market, merchants, and consumers.
The latest Similarweb statistics (August 2022) show that more than 23% of the 1.5 million visits come from Russia. The average time spent on the site is over 10 minutes, which suggests that these visitors make large payment transactions and do not just visit the site for a short time.
We do not claim at this point that Russian activities via Advcash violate Western sanctions, laws, or regulatory frameworks. However, we find close ties with Russia very intriguing, especially because CEO Yacoov Bitton is a U.S. citizen living in Miami.
Share Information
If you have any information about Advcash, its merchants, and its activities, please share it with us via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
