The founders of now-collapsed Lithuanian crypto mission Bankera (BNK) used funds from its much-hyped preliminary coin providing (ICO) to purchase up luxurious actual property, together with a villa on the French Riviera and high-end property in Lithuania, leaving unfortunate traders a collective €100 million ($113.7 million) out of pocket.
That is in line with a joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Mission (OCCRP) and Lithuanian outlet 15min.
Bankera’s founders Vytautas Karalevičius, Justas Dobiliauskas, and Mantas Mockevičius raised the funds from greater than 100,000 traders through the 2017 ICO, promising to create “a bank for the blockchain era.”
Nonetheless, in line with the OCCRP, as a substitute of constructing the promised blockchain-powered financial institution, the founders seem to have funneled tens of millions into an intensive actual property portfolio through an online of firms and a privately owned Pacific island financial institution.
The ICO proceeds, initially meant to develop cryptocurrency infrastructure and banking companies, have been reportedly used to again a sequence of opaque loans, lots of which have been routed by way of Pacific Non-public Financial institution (PPB) in Vanuatu — a financial institution the trio quietly acquired close to the tip of the ICO.
Properties reportedly bought embody a €1.1 million ($1.25 million) villa in Èze, France; a number of properties in Vilnius, Lithuania; and a beachfront resort in Vanuatu.
The transactions have been facilitated utilizing accounts in PPB, the place leaked financial institution information present over €45 million ($51 million) was transferred from Lithuania-based Bankera ecosystem firms.
The ICO came about between August 2017 and early 2018, peaking through the international crypto growth. Within the years that adopted, the BNK token collapsed in worth, whereas weekly payouts to traders — a key function marketed within the white paper — additionally dwindled and have been finally halted in 2022.
By 2025, the token’s whole market capitalization had plummeted to about $1 million.
Learn extra: Pump Enjoyable co-founder Dylan Kerler linked to 2017 ICO scams, report
Kathryn Westmore, a monetary crime skilled on the Royal United Companies Institute, instructed reporters, “To extract funds and seemingly use them to finance personal spending raises suspicions that investors have been misled and [the co-founders] have profited personally.”
She additionally claimed that the rash of ICOs in 2017 and 2018 was “the epitome of the wild west of crypto,” and added that individuals going through losses from crypto investments typically miss out on compensation, due partially to the dearth of oversight of the sector.
Regardless of a number of makes an attempt by reporters to contact Bankera’s founders, no direct response was obtained by the OCCRP. Attorneys for Bankera UAB, one in all a number of entities within the “Bankera ecosystem,” denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the PPB acquisition was a part of a broader technique to construct a blockchain-powered neobank.
In addition they acknowledged the token’s decline however insisted that the model stays profitable.
The Central Financial institution of Lithuania has confirmed it referred the case to legislation enforcement however declined to reveal additional particulars. In the meantime, the founders proceed to look at cryptocurrency conferences and keep energetic roles in Lithuania’s fintech scene.
Whereas Bankera’s web site nonetheless advertises a “modern bank account alternative,” it has did not safe a European Union banking license seven years after its launch.
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