Paxful Sentenced to $4M Fines for Money Laundering, Prostitution Involvement (PAX, BTT)

Paxful, the peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange that closed in 2023, was sentenced on February 11, 2026, to a $4 million fine after pleading guilty to money laundering, fraud, and prostitution-related violations. The company admitted knowingly facilitating transactions tied to criminal schemes, including those involving Backpage, and operated between 2017 and 2019, processing about $3 billion in trades and collecting roughly $30 million in revenue. As part of a December 2024 plea agreement with the Department of Justice and FinCEN, Paxful agreed to pay a $3.5 million civil penalty to FinCEN. A federal judge upheld the $4 million fine during a sentencing hearing on February 10, 2026. The appropriate criminal penalty under the agreement was in excess of $112 million, but the government capped the fine at $4 million. Paxful’s co-founder, Artur Schaback of Estonia, pleaded guilty in 2024 to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws.