Focus Reports

BaFin

BaFin vs. Yapily? Whistleblower Case Targets Open-Banking Rails for Illegal Casino Payments!

Reg Techer -
FinTelegram has reviewed a whistleblower report indicating that Germany’s financial watchdog BaFin has registered a case concerning Yapily Connect UAB, the Lithuanian licensed arm of the UK open-banking group Yapily. The allegations are explosive: regulated Pay by Bank infrastructure was allegedly used to process deposits for offshore casino brands targeting German players.

The B2G Laundromat Verdict: Cologne Court Convicts Rainer Treuer — But the Shvartsman Money-Laundering Machine Still Haunts Europe’s Binary Options Victims

The Casino You See Is Not The Casino You Enter: How Offshore Gambling Networks Use Hidden Layers

Rail Atlas: GoldenBet’s Multi-Rail Payment Stack — From Payabl Cards To Revolut Open Banking

GoldenBet, Santeda And Payabl: GDPR Data Reveals Payment Processing For Offshore Casino Operations!

Impaya And Aceiro — The Hidden Routing Layer Between Casino Cashiers And Paysolo

Cybercrime

Bankruptcies et al

Startup on Trial Series

Court Cases

Terraform “Startup on Trial”: Do Kwon Sentenced to 15 Years After Judge Calls Terra Collapse an “Epic” $40B Fraud

tamir -
A U.S. federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to 15 years in prison, concluding that the TerraUSD/LUNA implosion was not a bad-product accident but a fraud that wiped out roughly $40 billion in market value and devastated real victims. The sentence lands as a defining “Startup on Trial” moment for crypto’s algorithmic-stablecoin era.

Startup on Trial: Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos – Visionary or Fraudster? The Final Appeal Denied

Startup on Trial: Charlie Javice and the Frank Fraud – When Fake Users Fueled a $175 Million Acquisition

DeFi Decoded

Crypto Compliance

DeFi Bingo: Hyperliquid’s Billion-Dollar Machine: DeFi’s Most Profitable Trading Startup Faces the License Question

Reg Techer -
Hyperliquid has become one of the most extraordinary revenue engines in crypto. Public analytics suggest that the protocol generated roughly $961.5 million in gross protocol revenue in 2025 and about $873.7 million in gross profit, while current annualized revenue still sits near $675 million. At the same time, the network is processing roughly $193.9 billion in 30-day perpetual volume, carrying around $8.2 billion in open interest, and supporting a token market cap of about $10.6 billion. But behind the growth story sits a harder compliance question.

Trump’s Crypto Court Turns on Justin Sun: WLFI Freeze Row Exposes the First Family’s DeFi Power Play

ESMA Draws The Line: Why Hyperliquid’s Crypto Perpetuals Look Increasingly Like CFDs In DeFi Clothing

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People Radar

Investor Briefings

Financial Influencers

Gambling’s Hidden Salesforce: How Social Media Influencers Funnel Millions of Europeans into Illegal Casinos

Illegal gambling tamir -
An investigation by Investigative Europe has exposed how high-profile YouTube and Twitch personalities across at least seven European countries are acting as de facto distribution agents for blacklisted, unlicensed online casinos — earning revenue-share commissions from the very losses of their followers. For compliance analysts and financial regulators, this is not a marketing story. It is a systemic liability chain spanning operators, technology platforms, and individual influencers that demands urgent enforcement attention.

Report: Finfluencers on TikTok and X – Roles, Reach, Evolution, and Key Trends

Influencers Guest Contributor -
Over the past year, financial influencers (“FinFluencers”) have become increasingly prominent on social media, particularly on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). These platforms have evolved in their content dynamics, user engagement, and regulatory environment, making them central to the dissemination of financial advice and market sentiment. This report analyzes the roles, reach, and key trends of finfluencers on TikTok and X

Sam Altman’s Olive Oil Moment: How Graza Became the First Cyber Society EVOO Brand

Influencers Mark Lagarde -
A Financial Times video interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman unexpectedly turned into a viral marketing miracle for a small olive oil brand called Graza. Altman was seen cooking with Graza’s “Drizzle” olive oil—meant for finishing, not cooking—sparking an online debate and catapulting the brand into global awareness. It’s a case study in how digitally native consumer brands can hijack moments.

From Crypto King to Prison Chess: SBF’s Defiant Rewrite of the FTX Saga

Court Cases Ben -
In a remote interview with Tucker Carlson on March 5, 2025, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the convicted FTX founder, reframed his $10 billion fraud as a mere liquidity crisis, denying criminal intent while playing chess with Sean 'Diddy' Combs in prison. As he hints at GOP leanings and a potential pardon, SBF’s narrative sparks debate: a bid for redemption or a refusal to face the fallout?

Arms for Ukraine: Battlefield Necessity or Black Market and Money Laundering Bonanza?

Influencers tamir -
The topic of Ukraine or Ukrainian individuals selling U.S. and Western arms supplies on the black market has been a subject of both documented incidents and widespread speculation, often amplified by rumors and disinformation. The US media personality Tucker Carlson is one of the main sources in the respective headlines. Here’s a breakdown of known information and rumors:

Compliance

JET Bank: Israel’s Digital Payment Invasion of Albania!

Compliance Ben -
JET Bank was sold to the public as Albania’s first digital bank. But in Albania, the launch quickly turned into a scandal after media reports and political voices began questioning who really stands behind the bank’s Dutch-Cypriot-Israeli ownership maze — and whether the project could be linked to the wider ecosystem around convicted scam mastermind Gal Barak and his partner Gery Shalon.

Cyprus Control Chain? MetaQuotes, Raritex, And Sumsub Under A New Beneficial-Ownership Spotlight

Compliance Reg Techer -
In 2022, FinTelegram warned that MetaTrader’s publisher MetaQuotes sat inside a Cyprus structure with Russian roots, huge market reach, and unresolved beneficial-ownership questions beyond founder and CEO Renat Fatkhullin. In 2026, that concern looks even more relevant.