Croatian prosecutors said on Tuesday they had charged three people for running a multi-million euro cryptocurrency scheme that had defrauded more than 200 people in the Balkan nation.
The trio -- who helped run a firm that allegedly facilitated the trading of cryptocurrencies -- were indicted for the "criminal offence of fraud", a statement by the prosecutors said.
"The defendants encouraged investors to invest ... although they knew that the company they represented ... would not trade in the transferred virtual currencies, but they rather used them for their own needs", it said.
They were charged with defrauding at least 220 investors out of at least 4.6 million euros ($4.8 million).
The crimes were committed between 2018 and 2023 in the norther Adriatic port of Rijeka.
According to Croatian law, if found guilty they face up to eight years in jail.
The three were arrested in November 2023 and released after three months.
The Balkans had become a popular destination for cryptocurrency entrepreneurs.
In late December, Montenegro extradited to the Unites States the South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon.
The co-founder of Terraform Labs appeared in a New York court in January to face fraud charges stemming from the multi-billion-dollar collapse of his cryptocurrency company.
Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of controversies in recent years, including the high-profile collapse of exchanges.