Crypto Lender Nexo Strikes to Disband UK Subsidiaries
In the midst of a legal battle in Bulgaria, the crypto loan firm Nexo is attempting to dissolve two of its UK companies. Bloomberg has obtained a copy of a regulatory filing made by Nexo Monetary Providers Restricted and Nexo Clearing with the UK Firms Home. Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev, however, assured the media source that his company has no plans to leave Europe. Instead, the agency maintains that it is undergoing “some restructuring” and “rethinking” how it provides its services to clients.
In view of Nexo’s ongoing court case in Bulgaria, this makes sense. Prosecutors in Bulgaria opened an investigation into Nexo in January on suspicion of anti-money-laundering (AML) failure and sanctions violations against Russia. Authorities in Bulgaria and their overseas counterparts conducted raids at 15 of Nexo’s offices in Bulgaria as part of their investigation. One Nexo customer, prosecutors claim, has ties to the financing of terrorism.
In a lengthy Twitter post, Nexo accused the prosecution of utilising the “kick first, ask questions later method”. The firm noted that it has passed up countless business possibilities due to its unwavering adherence to anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.
Despite being totally automated, Nexo has “30+ AML compliance officers who ensure we maintain a real-time picture of our customers, including hostile media publications, OFAC sanctions lists, a source & flow of funds, etc.,” Nexo explained.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and several state authorities recently received $45 million from cryptocurrency exchange Nexo as a penalty for the exchange’s issuance and sale of cryptocurrency, which the SEC classifies as unregistered securities. The state financial watchdogs split the remaining money, leaving $22.5 million for the federal securities regulator. The Nexo Exchange, a digital currency trading platform, was used by the crypto lender to make an extra $1.5 million in payments to the state of New York.
