Zolotaya Korona exits Europe as KoronaPay Europe starts licence withdrawal

Zolotaya Korona has announced it is leaving the European market and starting the process of withdrawing its licence. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the useful bit is simple: the European arm is shutting down services, while the parent group is already under EU sanctions.

1. KoronaPay Europe Limited, the European division of the Russian payments system Zolotaya Korona, said on its official website that it is exiting the European market and beginning the licence withdrawal procedure. New transfers through KoronaPay Europe are no longer available.
2. The company said users can return previously sent money through the Korona app. In other words, the exit is not just a commercial pause; the European service is being wound down.
3. At the end of July, the operator and settlement centre of Zolotaya Korona, RKNO “Payment Center” (RNKO “Platyozhny Tsentr”), was hit by EU sanctions under the 21st package. The EU said the organisation operates in a sector that generates significant revenue for the Russian authorities. The restrictions include asset freezes in the EU and a ban on EU citizens and companies from making funds or other economic resources available to the “Payment Center,” directly or indirectly.
4. After that, Zolotaya Korona stopped sending money to Georgia and several other countries, according to the Telegram channel Kod Durova; support for Zolotaya Korona confirmed this to RBC. At the moment, transfers from Russia via the service are available only to Uzbekistan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan.
5. Zolotaya Korona entered the European market in 2020 under the KoronaPay brand. In May, its online transfer service launched in 31 countries: all EU member states, plus the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. For its European operations, the company registered KoronaPay Europe Limited in Cyprus and obtained a licence from the Central Bank of Cyprus in 2018.

For high-risk payment teams, this is a familiar pattern: sanctions hit the operating entity, the European licence starts to unwind, and corridors disappear one by one before the platform closes the region entirely.