Lithuanian Authority Fines Crypto Company Payeer 9.3M Euros for Sanction Evasion

Lithuania's financial crimes authority has fined crypto company Payeer 9.3 million euros for enabling transactions with Russian banks, thereby violating sanctions and money laundering regulations. Payeer, which began operations in January 2023, had a significant number of Russian clients. Its predecessor in Estonia previously lost its license.

Lithuania's financial crimes authority has imposed a fine of 9.3 million euros on the locally-registered cryptocurrency firm Payeer for facilitating transfers to and from Russian banks, thus evading sanctions and money laundering rules.

According to the authority, the majority of Payeer's 213,000 clients were based in Russia, and the company's revenues exceeded 164 million euros. Client identities were concealed, allowing transactions in Russian roubles to bypass sanctions.

Payeer began operations in January 2023 after a related Estonian company with the same name had its license revoked. Lithuania, a vocal critic of Russia within the EU and NATO, hosts hundreds of crypto firms.

(With inputs from agencies.)