The €5 Billion Trust Crisis Nobody Talks About
Every second, thousands of people across Europe are buying and selling pre-loved fashion items, trusting complete strangers with their money. In 2024 alone, over 100 million users exchanged billions of euros through online marketplaces. But here's what keeps payment executives awake at night: each transaction is a potential gateway for fraud, money laundering, and financial crime.
For Vinted, Lithuania's first unicorn valued at a staggering €5 billion after its recent €340 million funding round in 2024, this isn't just a theoretical problem. It's an existential challenge that could make or break the future of sustainable commerce.
"Trust isn't just important, it's everything," admits Modestas Tursa, VP of Payments at Vinted Pay. And he's about to reveal how they just cracked the code.
When Government Insiders Become Tech Rebels
In the glass towers of the European Central Bank and European Banking Authority, a group of elite regulators noticed something disturbing. The very systems they were creating to protect consumers were becoming so complex that even legitimate businesses couldn't keep up. Financial crime was evolving faster than compliance could adapt.
So they did something unprecedented. They left their prestigious positions to build the solution themselves.
Enter AMLYZE, the RegTech startup that's just been crowned Europe's 181st fastest-growing company by Sifted, with a mind-blowing 132.89% two-year growth rate. But here's what makes them different: their team includes former officials from the ECB, EBA, Financial Intelligence Unit, and Bank of Lithuania. They know exactly how criminals think because they spent years catching them.
"We didn't just want to build another compliance tool," says Gabrielius Erikas Bilkštys, CEO of AMLYZE. "We wanted to fundamentally change how financial institutions approach security like making it proactive, not reactive."
The Meeting That Changed Everything
When Vinted Pay, a licensed Electronic Money Institution, started looking for a compliance partner to support their massive expansion across 20+ markets, they had one non-negotiable requirement: the solution had to be as innovative as their marketplace.
Simonas Jončiulis, MLRO at Vinted Pay, reveals the moment he knew AMLYZE was different: "We evaluated numerous providers, but most offered fragmented solutions. We'd need one tool for transaction monitoring, another for screening, another for risk assessment. It was a compliance nightmare waiting to happen."
AMLYZE offered something revolutionary. A unified platform that could handle real-time monitoring, retrospective analysis, and customer risk assessment all in one place. But the real magic? Their exceptionally low false positive rate, a metric that typically haunts financial institutions with rates as high as 95%.
"When AMLYZE showed us their false positive rates, we honestly thought it was a typo," Jončiulis admits with a laugh. "But then we tested it ourselves."
The 48-Hour Implementation That Shocked Silicon Valley
Here's where the story gets interesting. While traditional compliance implementations take months or even years, AMLYZE adapted to Vinted Pay's complex payment flows and unique marketplace rules in what insiders are calling "record time."
The secret? AMLYZE's platform wasn't built in isolation. It was battle-tested with over 20 financial institutions across multiple continents, from traditional banks like Advanzia Bank to Lithuania's largest credit union group. Each implementation made the system smarter, faster, more adaptable.
"We implemented sophisticated transaction monitoring rules that understand the nuances of peer-to-peer marketplace transactions," explains Bilkštys. "A €500 vintage designer bag purchase has a completely different risk profile than 50 separate €10 transactions, even though the total is the same."
The result? A system that can process millions of transactions in real-time, flagging genuine risks while letting legitimate commerce flow freely.
The Numbers That Made Investors Take Notice
Let's talk impact. Within weeks of implementation, Vinted Pay reported:
- Up to 62% reduction in false positives compared to industry standards.
- 3x faster investigation completion for flagged transactions.
- Zero increase in missed suspicious activities despite the dramatic reduction in false alerts.
- Scalability to handle 10x transaction volume without performance degradation.
But here's the metric that matters most: customer trust scores hit an all-time high. Users reported feeling more secure, transactions processed faster, and the marketplace saw increased activity in previously high-risk categories.
"Efficiency has gone hand in hand with the automation of many routine tasks," notes Tursa. "This hasn't just improved security. It's transformed our entire payment ecosystem."
AMLTRIX and the Future of Financial Crime Prevention
While competitors were celebrating incremental improvements, AMLYZE quietly launched AMLTRIX which is a community-driven framework that's being called "Wikipedia for financial crime prevention."
This isn't just another database. It's a living, breathing intelligence network where financial institutions worldwide share patterns, typologies, and emerging threats in real-time. Vinted Pay now has access to collective intelligence from banks, fintechs, and payment providers across the globe.
"Criminals don't respect borders or industry boundaries," Bilkštys explains. "Neither should our defenses."
The framework has already identified three new money laundering typologies specific to marketplace transactions, patterns that traditional systems would have missed entirely.
How Two Lithuanian Companies Are Reshaping Global Finance
This partnership represents something bigger than just two companies working together. It's validation of Lithuania's emergence as Europe's unlikely FinTech powerhouse.
Consider this: In a country of just 2.8 million people, Lithuanian companies now process payments for over 100 million users globally. Vinted, founded in 2008 by Milda Mitkutė and Justas Janauskas, became Lithuania's first unicorn in 2019. Now, with backing from giants like Accel, EQT Growth, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sprints Capital, it's setting new standards for sustainable commerce.
AMLYZE, with its ISO 27001 certification for information security management announced on January 13, 2026, represents the new generation of RegTech companies that don't just comply with regulations, they help write them.
"We're showing the world that innovation doesn't always come from Silicon Valley or London," says Bilkštys. "Sometimes it comes from countries that had to rebuild everything from scratch."
What This Means for Every Online Shopper
Here's why this matters to you, whether you're selling your old jeans or hunting for vintage treasures: every improvement in payment security directly translates to a better user experience.
Faster payment processing means your money arrives sooner. Lower false positive rates mean legitimate transactions aren't blocked at crucial moments. Better fraud detection means scammers are caught before they can strike.
But perhaps most importantly, this partnership proves that security and user experience aren't opposing forces. They're complementary elements of trustworthy commerce.
"We're not just protecting transactions," Tursa emphasizes. "We're protecting dreams. The dream of sustainable fashion, of circular economy, of commerce built on trust rather than exploitation."
Expansion, Innovation, and Unexpected Alliances
As Vinted Pay prepares to expand into new markets throughout 2025 and 2026, the AMLYZE partnership becomes even more critical. Each new country brings unique regulatory requirements, payment methods, and fraud patterns.
But here's what's really exciting: AMLYZE is already in talks with other major marketplaces, seeing the Vinted Pay implementation as a blueprint for the future of marketplace compliance. The company's recent partnerships with European Merchant Bank (the first Lithuanian bank to join their platform) and various credit unions show their technology works across different financial sectors.
Why This Partnership Changes Everything
In an era where a single security breach can destroy a billion-dollar company overnight, Vinted Pay and AMLYZE have achieved something remarkable: they've made compliance a competitive advantage rather than a necessary evil.
This isn't just about meeting regulatory requirements or avoiding fines. It's about building a foundation of trust that enables commerce to flourish. It's about proving that technology companies can be forces for good, protecting consumers while enabling innovation.
As we enter 2026, with digital commerce expected to exceed €6 trillion globally, the question isn't whether other companies will follow Vinted Pay's lead, it's how quickly they can catch up.
For the 100 million users on Vinted's platform, the message is clear: shop with confidence. Behind every transaction, there's an invisible shield powered by some of the smartest minds in financial technology, working tirelessly to keep your money safe.
And for the financial technology industry, the gauntlet has been thrown. The bar for payment security just got raised dramatically.
"We have been truly impressed by the expertise and dedication of the AMLYZE team," Tursa concludes. "Their deep regulatory knowledge, combined with practical insights from real-world implementations, has helped us navigate complex compliance landscapes while maintaining the smooth user experience our community loves."
In a world where trust is the ultimate currency, Vinted Pay and AMLYZE aren't just processing payments. They're building the future of commerce, one secure transaction at a time.
The revolution isn't coming. It's already here. And it started in Lithuania.
This groundbreaking partnership between AMLYZE and Vinted Pay represents a new chapter in marketplace security. As digital commerce continues to evolve, collaborations like this will determine which platforms thrive and which fall behind. For updates on this developing story and insights into the future of FinTech innovation, stay tuned.
Sources Links:
1. Vinted Revenue and Usage Statistics: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/vinted-statistics
2. Vinted Secures TPG-Led Secondary Investment at Valuation of €5B, Reflecting Profitable Growth: https://company.vinted.com/newsroom/secondary-investment
3. AMLYZE Partners Vinted Pay as It Expands Payment Infrastructure: https://amlyze.com/amlyze-partners-vinted-pay-as-it-expands-payment-infrastructure
4. AMLYZE teams up with Vinted Pay: https://thepaypers.com/fraud-and-fincrime/news/amlyze-joins-vinted-pay-in-payment-infrastructure-focused-collaboration
5. Are You Too Negative About False Positives: https://datos-insights.com/blog/are-you-too-negative-about-false-positives
6.Vinted Pay teams up with AMLYZE for compliant expansion: https://fintech.global/2026/01/16/vinted-pay-teams-up-with-amlyze-for-compliant-expansion
7. Reducing False Positives: A Smarter Approach to Compliance Efficiency: https://amlyze.com/reducing-false-positives