Monoup news digest: main updates from fintech industry
This week’s news from Monoup covers the latest developments in fintech industry. Some of the stories we previously reported on have taken new turns, and we’re here to share the updates with you. Guavapay failed to overcome its creditor issues (Mastercard) and will now be shut down by the FCA. What does this mean for its clients? We’ll break it down in this article.
Another major case in fintech from Lithuania, involves ZEN.COM, which was hit with a significant fine by the Bank of Lithuania at the end of last year. The amount seemed substantial at the time, and company itself believes it exceeds the severity of the violations found. ZEN.COM immediately expressed its disagreement and is now continuing to defend its rights.
We’ll explore how exactly this dispute is unfolding and at what stage it currently stands.
Guavapay Faces Forced Liquidation
The payment company will be liquidated in the near future, according to a notice on the website of the financial UK regulator, the FCA.
The company’s issues with the regulator and Mastercard — which demanded liquidation to recover debts — have reached their conclusion. Despite faint hopes that its operations might resume, the regulator has made a final decision against Guavapay. The current violations and company’s financial position prevent it from continuing operations, so appointed liquidators are beginning the process of auditing and winding down affairs.
For clients who still have funds in their Guavapay accounts, the situation is unfolding not in the best way. FCA website advises them to contact the liquidators directly, whose details are provided in the announcement.
However, the FCA does not guarantee refunds to all clients, as a thorough verification is required to identify legitimate account holders. Given that one of Guavapay’s shortcomings was errors in KYC procedures, it is unclear whether this can be done effectively. Additionally, the process of closing financial institutions is not a matter of a few weeks but rather a few years and can be significantly delayed, depending on the volume of information the liquidators need to review.
Polish President Blocks MiCA Law Again
Last week, a second version of the bill adapting European MiCA regulation was not signed by the Polish president. Earlier, president rejected the law due to concerns about its unfriendly stance toward cryptocurrencies, as it contained many discriminatory provisions that hindered development of Polish companies. The president concerns that potential holders of crypto licenses, seeing such conditions, will move to other EU countries with a more favorable environment for cryptocurrencies.
Although his position is supported by many in the crypto community, delay means that Polish companies still cannot obtain new licenses and operate officially. The EU deadline is July 1 of this year. Old authorizations are already effectively obsolete, and new ones are not yet available. Polish legislators cannot find common ground on this topic, leaving crypto companies in limbo.
There is some good news, however: a new, third version of the crypto law is already in progress. It is being drafted by Polish economist Krzysztof Piech, who has stated that he is working on a more crypto-friendly version.
Meanwhile, there is little time left to evaluate this version and either adopt or reject it. How events will develop if Poland misses the EU deadline remains unknown.
Previously, obtaining VASP authorization in Poland was one of the simplest procedures, attracting many companies who wanted to become crypto providers. The current trajectory suggests that the state wants to keep most of these businesses in the country but under control, while removing those that cannot operate on a larger scale. Apparently, finding the golden mean has proven more difficult than initially expected, and the fluctuations are understandable. Losing such a large segment of companies means losing profits that would simply flow to other EU countries.
ZEN.COM Challenges the Bank of Lithuania in Court
The high-profile €1.8 million penalty imposed by the regulator on ZEN.COM for AML deficiencies is considered unfair by the fintech company itself, which has already filed a lawsuit to contest the amount.
The head of ZEN.COM’s European department emphasizes that the company cooperated with the Bank of Lithuania during the audit and had long since addressed some of the identified shortcomings. From an outside perspective, it seems that the fine of this magnitude is more aligned with the scale of the company’s operations rather than nature of the violations found. In our previous news release, we provided more details about this case and analyzed similar AML cases in Lithuania. Be sure to refresh your memory by checking out the linked article.
That’s all the news we’ve gathered for you this week. To stay updated, subscribe to our Telegram channel, where we promptly publish industry updates, analyze news, and share expertise in payments. Our subscribers include major payment systems, businesses in gaming and other online sectors, and representatives of other significant players in the payment niche.
