The co-founders of a Lithuanian cryptocurrency project called Bankera raised over 100 million euros in 2018 by selling digital tokens to more than 100,000 investors, promising to create a revolutionary bank for the digital age. But years later, the token has collapsed in value, the promised banking license was never obtained, and evidence shows a portion of investor funds was used to buy luxury real estate and provide personal loans to the founders.
Investigators found that more than 45 million euros flowed from a company owned by the three founders into a bank they had acquired in Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation. From there, the money backed loans that allowed the founders to purchase a villa on the French Riviera and multiple properties in Lithuania. Some loans were explicitly labeled for “personal use.”
The founders, Vytautas Karalevičius, Justas Dobiliauskas, and Mantas Mockevičius, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Lawyers representing one of their companies stated the ICO was not fraudulent and that funds were used for developing blockchain technology.
Investors who bought the tokens expected weekly payouts from transaction fees, but those payments eventually stopped in 2022 as the token’s value plummeted. The total market value of all Bankera tokens now stands at just one million dollars.
Financial crime experts said the case highlights the risks of unregulated cryptocurrency investments, calling the ICO boom of 2017-2018 the “wild west of crypto.” Lithuania’s central bank confirmed it contacted law enforcement about the matter but could not provide details.