Russian fintech entrepreneur Gleb Markov’s business collapse: from billion-ruble losses at Moscow-based FIT and PayQR to the liquidation of his Crypterium crypto project
Widely known in business circles, Gleb Markov is famous for his numerous machinations.
The 37-year-old businessman from Nizhnekamsk (Tatarstan), Gleb Markov, head of the controversial company FIT LLC (Finance and Information Technology), constantly attracts public attention with his new antics. Undoubtedly, many remember his loud confrontation with the PayQR service and the major Sberbank, from which Mr. Markov tried to get 2.9 billion rubles.
However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and some arbitration judges had to leave their posts.
But, as the would-be crypto-investor writes about his beloved self, "Gleb Markov keeps the brand," which means he is again walking over heads to new goals, although the media have long determined that most of Markov’s companies are technical. In the recent past, he was a resident of the Skolkovo innovation center, managed to work as the head of the mobile commerce department at Master Bank, as well as at Svyaznoy Bank. He swept like a whirlwind through 14 different companies, registered several patents. And he also showed up in the creation of the unsuccessful cashback service Sakhar.
And he made a very scandalous noise when he organized the company Crypterium, leaving, as they wrote on the forums, a "herd of suckers who bought ’candy wrappers’ from Gleb Markov for 51 million greenbacks" with nothing.
And what then? This dark story was hushed up, although heated reviews continue to this day!
But the dog barks, and the caravan goes on…
Is Markov in the details?
Well, this genius, who has been working in the financial field since the age of 15, failed to sue Sberbank for 2.9 billion rubles.
Markov first became a manager in 2009, at the age of 20, at IKINOT LLC.
Markov’s company FIT LLC had been developing the PayQR service since 2014.
In 2016, Mr. Markov tried to negotiate with Sberbank to make a joint project, but Sberbank refused. And it started doing everything itself: this is how "Plati QR" and SberPay QR appeared.
From 2021, PayQR began to make claims against Sberbank. And demanded to remove payqr from page addresses. Sberbank did this at first, and then began to ignore it.
In August 2024, FIT LLC filed a lawsuit for 2.9 billion rubles. After all, the signs are indeed similar, like monozygotic twins.
But the old lady didn’t suffer long in the high-voltage wires: Sberbank eventually won the court case.
But why did Markov get involved in litigation, especially knowing the details of his business, because the devil is in the details?
Here are the "successes" of FIT LLC over the past few years:
2020 - 228 thousand rubles (loss of 34.7 million)
2021 - 60.6 million rubles (-97.2 million)
2022 - 10.6 million rubles (-15 million)
2023 - 360 thousand rubles (-2.7 million)
2024 - 4.2 million rubles (-1.3 million)
Initially, Gleb Markov was the CEO at PayQR.
And the first owners were father and son Viktor and Vladimir Gorbunov, as well as a certain Denis Kozlovsky.
Viktor and Vladimir Gorbunov
At the beginning, the service attracted investments: and the Gorbunovs were the first investors. In 2014, PayQR got hold of $1.5 million from two mysterious businessmen, whose names are still unknown.
In 2016, Sergey Kozlovsky, co-owner of the development company Inkom and father of Denis Kozlovsky, contributed 300 million rubles to this company.
A curious detail: the business newspaper Vedomosti even at that time named a certain Vyacheslav Semenchuk as the owner of the service.
Looking ahead, we note that Mr. Semenchuk is an old friend and business partner of Markov, who, as the Moscow press wrote, had more than a dozen different businesses by the age of 26.
Vyacheslav Semenchuk
From 2015 to 2024, the owner of PayQR was the Cypriot company PayQR International Ltd, and since 2024 - Gleb Markov.
He bought it out in April, and already in September he rushed to sue German Gref.
A few warm words about Mr. Semenchuk. He had many projects: for example, the Life Pay payment service. And he is involved in crypto: he sold 68,000 NFTs. He also launched the first kosher cryptocurrency Bitcoen.
Markov and Semenchuk published a book "101 Ways to Create New Income Streams. How to Make Money on Everything and Always".
On the cover of this "bestseller", Vyacheslav Semenchuk is presented as a "business surgeon".
Vyacheslav Semenchuk, business surgeon, and Gleb Markov
Today, Mr. Markov, who recently had 14 offices, remains the owner of two: FIT LLC and Markov LLC.
The successes of the FIT office are listed above, and the Markov company had a revenue of 66 thousand rubles in 2025.
But Mr. Markov has many trademarks, including such, for example, as "Strength. Truth. Love".
It turns out that the trademark "Strength. Truth. Love" is Markov’s family coat of arms. He hustled here too.
Further.
But in 2024, Markov sued not only German Gref’s office, but also the Vlast Idey company – this is an online tea hypermarket.
Rusprofile.ru
Markov held a 25% stake in this tea house from 2019 to March 2024. In March, Markov stepped down as a co-owner, and in June filed a lawsuit. And he demanded the return of the loan and interest; the company considered it an investment.
But the court ordered to pay Markov 15 million rubles.
And here is a kind of warning for businessmen.
Businessman Markov Gleb Dmitrievich INN 165124413191 - biography, career and reputation., RF
Further in November 2024, Markov demanded almost 300,000 "greenbacks" from Oleg Ivanov, co-founder of the CryptoBazar and Berezka DAO companies.
Let’s also pay attention to the businessman’s personal income: in 2022 it amounted to 589.7 thousand rubles per month.
Isn’t that why Markov loves to sue so much?
Gleb Markov
He has quite a few other court cases where he acts as a plaintiff.
But an important detail: business partners Gleb Markov, Vladimir Gorbunov, and Vyacheslav Semenchuk have been conducting their shady affairs for more than 10 years.
The Crypterium scam: two clowns in the arena?
In the ever-memorable 2017, Gleb Markov acted as a co-founder of Crypterium, which was positioned as the world’s first cryptobank that would allow paying with cryptocurrency in millions of stores around the world.
The second founder, a longtime business partner of Gleb Markov, Vladimir Gorbunov, about whom they wrote in the comments like this:
But this startup collected more than 50 million dollars from investors in the first years, after 2022 underwent a rebranding and turned into Choise com: it blocked services for users in Russia.
The company was registered in London.
Markov at the beginning of his journey
And also had headquarters in Tallinn.
But in April 2025, the company UAB Choise Services (Republic of Lithuania), which owned this office, entered the liquidation process.
And users of Crypterium and Choise cried on the network that they could not withdraw their money from this traveling circus.
And in this regard, the comments of those who suffered from the brainchild of Markov and Gorbunov are very curious.
Gleb Markov
It turns out, as they write on the forums, Mr. Markov is just a "sucker"…
And the central figure of this scam is Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbunov?
Cryptobank Crypterium turns itself in. Cryptozade for Markov and Gorbunov.
Cryptobank Crypterium turns itself in. Cryptozade for Markov and Gorbunov.
And some intimate details that Crypterium falsified the number of participants in its ICO by 70%.
And some details about the luxurious life of Markov and Gorbunov, who love to travel on business jets: the cost of such a flight reaches almost 28 thousand euros.
Flight Vnukovo – Costa Smeralda, Vnukovo - Pisa
This is how unearthly glory faded.
Would-be crypto-investor Markov
And today they write about Mr. Markov in the comments quite pejoratively: "Stupid Skolkovo animal Gleb Markov…"
As they say, he messed things up big time.
Markov at auction
But the dashing businessman Markov does not lose heart!
Let’s recall another story.
Not so long ago, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced the launch of an auction for nicknames on Telegram: at this auction, one could buy names previously unavailable for registration in the messenger (these are four-letter nicknames).
The cost of other lots at the auction exceeded $1 million.
Gleb Markov
And here, too, the Nizhnekamsk "nugget" Markov distinguished himself. He gave himself a royal gift.
"There are many Glebs, but on Telegram, the name Gleb will only be mine," ‒ this is how Markov justified the purchase of the @gleb nickname. And the closest analogue of such a purchase is a beautiful ICQ number: it has no practical value, but was needed to pamper oneself.
According to the auction platform Fragment, where bidding for nicknames is held, Gleb Markov paid 10,861 TON cryptocurrency units (about $17,000) for his name on Telegram.
And Markov also travels a lot (until they close it).
Gleb Markov
And writes about it on his social networks
https://vk.ru/gdmarkov
But, as they say, no matter how much the string twists, there will still be an end
Kolyma is also an interesting place on the geographical map.
Technology & Business Editor
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