Estonian cryptocurrency exchange Coinmetro filed a reorganization application with an Estonian court after suspending customer registrations, deposits, withdrawals, and trading on June 22, 2026, following what the company described as a failure by one of its financial service providers.
The exchange published a statement on July 1 disclosing the court filing and the operational freeze that had already been in place for more than a week.
"To ensure fair and transparent treatment of all customers and an orderly handling of the situation, we have determined that the best available solution for our company will be to file a reorganisation application to the Estonian court," Coinmetro said.
The statement did not name the financial service provider it said had failed. In a YouTube-based ask me anything session, CEO and beneficial owner Kevin Murcko said more than one provider had actually failed, contradicting the singular framing in the official announcement. Murcko also disclosed that a multi-year internal investigation had preceded the public announcement, suggesting the problem predated the June suspension by a substantial period. He said he had originally believed Coinmetro's balance sheet was strong enough that the situation was not material, but that it became material as the exchange approached the July 1 MiCA compliance deadline, per Protos reporting.
Coinmetro had applied for a MiCA license with the Malta Financial Services Authority before the July 1 deadline. That application remains under review.
Announcement: Onboarding, trading, depositing and withdrawals paused
— Coinmetro (@CoinMetro) June 23, 2026
🔗 Full statement: https://t.co/Hax80tAn47
Kevin Murcko, Founder and CEO of Coinmetro, will hold an AMA today, June 23, 2026 at 6 PM UTC to answer all questions. Join here - https://t.co/rh43P4SYaN pic.twitter.com/kYdpMCmBxt
What the Estonian court filing means for customers
Under the reorganization process, the exchange said it would work with legal advisors to implement a plan that manages the remaining value of its technology and intellectual property for the benefit of existing customers. The filing does not guarantee that customers will recover their funds in full, and no timeline was given for when deposits or withdrawals would resume.
Protos noted that both Coinmetro OÜ and Coinmetro Group OÜ were past due on annual reports in the Estonian register, and that Coinmetro Group OÜ carried a listed tax debt. Neither the company's statement nor Murcko's public session addressed those filings. Coinmetro did not respond to Protos before publication.
The Prime Trust lawsuit adds a $1.2 million clawback claim
A separate legal action further complicates the reorganization. The Prime Trust bankruptcy estate, operating as PCT Litigation Trust, filed an adversary proceeding against Coinmetro in August 2025. The proceeding seeks to recover $1,205,751.10 that Prime Trust transferred to Coinmetro in the days immediately before Prime Trust's own bankruptcy filing.
Prime Trust, a crypto custody firm, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after a period in which it had used customer funds to cover lost deposits. The estate's lawsuit against Coinmetro is one of several clawback actions filed against entities that received transfers in the period before the collapse. Prime Trust's own failures made it difficult to determine which funds belonged to which counterparties, meaning Coinmetro's withdrawals in that window are contested regardless of what the exchange ultimately deposited.
A MiCA deadline that sharpened the financial pressure
The July 1 MiCA transitional deadline for crypto asset service providers in the European Union played a direct role in the timing of the public disclosure. Murcko said the exchange's financial situation had been viewed internally as manageable until the regulatory compliance window began to close, at which point the combined pressure from provider failures, the pending clawback lawsuit, and the cost of licensing became impossible to absorb without court intervention.
Coinmetro is not alone in finding the MiCA transition period difficult. Binance withdrew its license application in Greece days before the July 1 deadline and said it would seek authorization in a different EU member state. Smaller exchanges face a higher proportional compliance burden under the regulation's capital and operational requirements, and the Coinmetro situation represents one of the more acute cases of that pressure materializing.
The exchange said further statements would be issued once more information was available. No date was given for the next update, and trading remains disabled.
Tanya Petrusenko
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