ING has a Payvision Accounting Problem Contradictory figures, missing audit evidence and unresolved victim claims demand documented answers. ING announced Payvision’s phase-out in 2021, citing commercial reasons, and reported its operational completion in 2022. Years later, the Payvision companies’ latest accounts – just filed with KvK – contain material contradictions
The “Just the Rails” Defence: What the Zelle Fraud Case Means for Wero and Europe On 20 July 2026, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County refused to dismiss the New York Attorney General’s fraud action against Early Warning Services, LLC (EWS), the operator of
EFRI asks German prosecutors: What happened to the “Wolf of Sofia” investigations? Today EFRI has formally asked the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Bamberg and its Central Cybercrime Unit (ZCB) for clarification on the status of the German criminal proceedings concerning Gal Barak, Marina Barak and Gery Shalon. The request comes against the background
Banking Circle, Kraken and the False Comfort of a Name Match In a recent Austrian victim case, three transfers totalling €60,749 went to Banking Circle IBANs displayed inside Kraken as fiat funding details. The payer saw his own name as beneficiary and received a positive Verification of Payee result. The
StablR confirms more than 20 million unbacked token units remain in circulation StablR has for the first time quantified the unauthorised EURR and USDR tokens still in circulation. According to the issuer, 6.41 million EURR and 14.33 million USDR of unauthorised tokens remain in circulation without corresponding reserve assets. The
Austria Builds a Stronger Payment-Blocking Regime — but Repeats Germany’s Blind Spot Government Bill 594 d.B., XXVIII. GP (amendments to the Glücksspielgesetz and the Telekommunikationsgesetz 2021); introduced in the Nationalrat on 5 August 2026. The new § 56e GSpG enters into force at the end of 31 December 2026. EFRI
StablR: EFRI asks MFSA what became of its 2025 ‘exhaustive analysis’ One year after the Malta Financial Services Authority told EFRI that it was conducting an “exhaustive analysis” of concerns surrounding StablR Ltd, EFRI has returned to the regulator. Two significant developments make renewed scrutiny necessary: the May 2026 StablR
Banking Circle 2025: The Payments Bank Whose Largest Fee Line Is Not Payments An EFRI financial-structure analysis based on Banking Circle S.A.’s audited financial statements for 2022–2025, its regulatory disclosures and its own product descriptions. It makes no finding of criminal or regulatory misconduct. Where the accounts do not permit
Banking Circle’s vIBAN Model in Practice: Kraken, Bano and the Look-Through Problem EFRI has repeatedly argued that the principal risk of virtual IBAN structures is not the IBAN itself. It is the separation between the bank whose name appears in the payment chain, the regulated intermediary that is the bank’s
FINOM/Banking Circle/Triventa: a €314k pass-through at a DNB-licensed EMI A fact-based EFRI Case Note built on the FINOM account statement, Companies House filings, Banking Circle’s Article 15 GDPR response, the DNB register and public-register publications, a Sumsub onboarding report, correspondence, a Kifid decision and published Dutch judgments. It makes no
