Estonia · Crypto
Lightyear Europe AS
Lightyear Europe AS is an Estonian public limited company (aktsiaselts) based in Tallinn. Finantsinspektsioon, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority, authorises it as an investment firm under activity licence 4.1-1/31. The same authority permits it to provide certain crypto-asset services under activity licence 4.1-1/147. Lightyear Financial Ltd of the United Kingdom owns all of its shares. Through the Lightyear app, it offers retail and business customers in 25 EEA countries shares, ETFs, money market fund savings and, since May 2026, crypto-assets.
Licences and registrations
Held by Lightyear Europe AS (LEI 254900BBBJZF2IE8EN54). 1 entry on 1 of the 22 tracked registers, retrieved 25 September 2026.
| Register | Licence | Number | Jurisdiction | Status | Registered | Ends | Activities | Register entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESMA interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providersEstonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) | Crypto-asset service providerCrypto-Asset Service Provider | 254900BBBJZF2IE8EN54 | Estonia | Active | 2025-11-17 | — |
|
Search the register ↗ |
- Each licence applies in the country of the regulator that granted it.
- Registers are tracked in 37 countries. Licences granted elsewhere are not recorded here.
Swift network
Swift’s ISO 9362 BIC directory
Holds no BIC in Swift’s directory.
Its LEI is not mapped to a BIC in the Swift and GLEIF BIC-to-LEI relationship file.
Overview
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
Customers
Not published
Employees
Not published
Ownership
Group subsidiary
100% Lightyear Financial Ltd
Firm type
Investment or brokerage
Trades as Lightyear
- Ownership
- Lightyear Financial Ltd (UK company number 12925823) holds 100% of the shares, and the register names co-founders Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer as indirect beneficial owners.
- Direct parent
- Lightyear Financial Ltd ↗, United Kingdom 100%
- Head office
- Volta 1, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia
- Company register
- Estonian Commercial Register 16235024
- Incorporated
- 21 May 2021
- Founders
- Martin Sokk · Mihkel Aamer
Online
- Websites & references
- lightyear.com ↗
status.lightyear.com ↗ status page
careers.lightyear.com ↗ careers site (group) - Official social accounts
- LinkedIn ↗ · X ↗ · Facebook ↗ · Instagram ↗
- Apps
- App Store ↗ · Google Play ↗
Sources · 15 pages consulted
- ariregister.rik.ee/est/company/16235024/Lightyear-Europe-AS
- fi.ee/en/investment-market/investment-firms-0/investment-market/licenced-investment-firms-eston
- fi.ee/en/news/lightyear-europe-was-granted-additional-operating-licence
- fi.ee/en/news/lightyear-europe-was-granted-operating-authorisation-investment-firm
- lightyear.com/
- lightyear.com/en-eu/help/managing-my-lightyear-account/how-is-lightyear-regulated
- lightyear.com/en-eu/help/deposits-conversions-and-withdrawals/how-are-my-assets-protected
- lightyear.com/en-eu/help/trading-and-investments/are-securities-i-buy-held-in-my-name
- lightyear.com/en-eu/terms
- lightyear.com/en-eu/about
- lightyear.com/en-eu/blog/andres-kitter
- lightyear.com/en-eu/blog/crypto-on-lightyear
- thepaypers.com/crypto-web3-and-cbdc/news/lightyear-adds-crypto-access-for-eu-investors-via-kraken
- cnbc.com/2025/07/24/european-robinhood-rival-lightyear-raises-23-million.html
- fintech.global/2025/07/25/european-investing-platform-lightyear-secures-23m/
Authorisation
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Operates under
- Its own licences
Finantsinspektsioon authorises the firm as an investment firm under activity licence 4.1-1/31. Under activity licence 4.1-1/147, it is permitted to provide certain crypto-asset services as an investment firm. It appears on ESMA's interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers from 17 November 2025. The firm states that it is authorised to operate across the EU and EEA.
| Authority | Licence or registration | Number | Held | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority) Estonia | Activity licence of an investment firm | 4.1-1/31 | In its own name | Active | fi.ee ↗ |
| Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority) Estonia | Permission to provide certain crypto-asset services (MiCA), listed in ESMA's interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers | 4.1-1/147 | In its own name | Active | lightyear.com ↗ |
| Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority) Estonia | Additional activity licence of an investment firm (investment advice, dealing on own account) | 4.1-1/32 | In its own name | Status unconfirmed | fi.ee ↗ |
Licences and registrations the research found, at home and abroad, as the firm and its regulators publish them. The Licences and registrations card shows the entries on the registers the directory tracks.
Partners and safeguarding
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Safeguarding
- Segregated safeguarding accountsThe firm states that it keeps uninvested customer money apart from its own funds, mainly at Erste Bank Hungary Zrt. and Citibank Europe Plc, Germany Branch, with small amounts at LHV Bank and the rest in BlackRock and J.P. Morgan qualifying money market funds. It adds that the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund covers non-crypto assets up to EUR 20,000.
- Crypto-asset custody
- Held by a third-party custodianThe firm routes crypto-asset orders through Kraken and holds customers' crypto-assets in an omnibus account in its own name at Kraken (Payward Europe Solutions Limited), segregated from its own estate.
- Safeguarding bank
- Erste Bank Hungary Zrt. Hungary
- Safeguarding bank
- Citibank Europe Plc, Germany Branch Germany
- Safeguarding bank
- LHV Bank Estonia
- Crypto custodian
- Kraken (Payward Europe Solutions Limited) Ireland
Banks and regulated firms the firm says hold its customers’ money, issue its cards, sponsor its accounts or settle its payments, as it discloses them in its terms and notices.
Products and markets
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
It offers execution-only trading in shares, ETFs and bonds, money market fund savings vaults, multi-currency cash balances in EUR, USD and GBP, and trading in 12 crypto-assets.
The firm says its authorisation covers the EU and EEA and that it currently serves customers in 25 countries.
- Revenue
- EUR 4.24m
- Sells to
- Consumers · Small businesses
- Serves customers in 25 countries
- Austria · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Ireland · Italy · Latvia · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Malta · Netherlands · Norway · Portugal · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden
- Latest funding round
- Series B · USD 23m Jul 2025Led by NordicNinja
- Total raised
- USD 58m to Jul 2025 · fintech.global ↗
Leadership
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Chair
- Mihkel Aamer Chair of the Supervisory Board
- Executive
- Heili Veskimeister Member of the Management Board
- Executive
- Uku Lember Member of the Management Board
- Executive
- Andres Kitter Member of the Management Board; Head of European Operations
- Founder
- Martin Sokk Member of the Supervisory Board
Recent events
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
-
Other
The firm launched trading in 12 crypto-assets for EU customers, with orders routed through Kraken.
thepaypers.com ↗ -
Leadership
Mihkel Aamer became chair of the supervisory board, and Taavi Tamkivi and Wander Rutgers joined the board on 27 April 2026.
ariregister.rik.ee ↗ -
Licence
The firm was entered in ESMA's interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers on 17 November 2025.
lightyear.com ↗ -
Leadership
Co-founder Martin Sokk became a member of the firm's supervisory board on 1 August 2025.
ariregister.rik.ee ↗ -
Funding
The Lightyear group raised USD 23 million in a Series B round led by NordicNinja.
cnbc.com ↗ -
Licence
Finantsinspektsioon granted the firm an additional investment firm licence on 4 March, covering investment advice and dealing on own account.
fi.ee ↗
Compliance-relevant events of the last three years, newest first: fines and enforcement, investigations, security incidents, licence changes, funding rounds, acquisitions and leadership changes. Each links to its source.
Identifiers
- Licence no. · ESMA-CASP
- 254900BBBJZF2IE8EN54
- BIC
- Holds no BIC in Swift’s directory
- How the LEI was matched
- Published by the register
- Elucidate firm ID
- e566b2faf51f
Profile
- Type
- CryptoCrypto-asset service providers, virtual-asset trading platforms and stablecoin issuers. Taken from the licences on the tracked registers.
- Regulation
- Prudential licenceAuthorised with capital, safeguarding and conduct requirements, e.g. an authorised payment or e-money institution in the EU or UK, a major payment institution in Singapore, or a MiCA crypto-asset service provider.
- Main licence class
- Crypto-Asset Service Provider
- Activities
- Crypto-assets
- Licensed in
- Estonia · Europe & Central Asia
- First registered
- 2025-11-17
- Website
- lightyear.com ↗
Types come from Swift’s BIC classification, the licences on the 22 tracked registers, and the ECB and FSB bank lists. Most banks outside the euro area appear as financial institutions, because their supervisors’ registers are not tracked yet.
Ownership and group
GLEIF relationship records
- Direct parent
- Lightyear Financial LTD · United Kingdom254900FYBFGUC5N50W68 ↗
Group membership follows the accounting-consolidation relationships reported to GLEIF. It does not show ownership shares or control.
Addresses
- Address on the register
- Volta tn 1, Tallinn, 10412
- Country
- Estonia
ISO 20022 identification
As an agent in a Swift cross-border payment message (CBPR+)
This institution holds no BIC. A CBPR+ message identifies it by name and postal address, and may add its LEI or a clearing code.
- Identified by
- Name and postal address, with its LEI
- Postal address
- Incomplete: no town published
- The register publishes no town as a separate field. A CBPR+ postal address needs at least a town name (TwnNm) and a country (Ctry).
The LEI record in GLEIF holds a structured legal address.
CBPR+ identifies the instructing and instructed agents by BIC only. An institution without a BIC can be the debtor, creditor or an intermediary agent.
The values are as published by the register. Check them against your own records before use.
Sources & method
Register entries come from the public registers of financial regulators, standardised into one taxonomy. LEIs are matched through GLEIF, and a BIC is linked only through a shared LEI.
An institution missing from these registers is not necessarily unregulated.
Register entries are not matched against the OFAC or EU sanctions lists. Where the legal entity also holds a BIC, the matches for that BIC are on its page. Always screen against the official lists.
An institution is one entry in the directory: a BIC8 in Swift’s directory, or a firm on a tracked register that holds no BIC. Licences held by an institution with a BIC are shown on its page.
Read the methodology →Register for this page
- ESMA interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers—European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) · source ↗ as at 25 September 2026
- Ownership and group—GLEIF Level 2 relationship records (accounting consolidation), matched by LEI.
- Overview, authorisation, partners, products, leadership and events—researched per institution by an AI model with web search, from the firm's own website, terms and filings, regulators' registers and notices, company registers and news. Licences, partners, figures, people and events link to their source, and each card shows the research date. AI research can be wrong or out of date, so check key facts at the source.
Assess the financial crime risk behind a licence
A licence records what an institution is authorised to do; it does not assess it. The Elucidate FinCrime Index (EFI) is an independent score of the financial crime risk of banks and payment institutions.
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