Hong Kong SFC Continues Crypto Oversight, Reveals Dozens of New Fake Platforms

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In a serious growth regarding crypto asset safety, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee (SFC) has flagged 33 new suspicious web sites falsely claiming to be affiliated with HashKey, a licensed cryptocurrency buying and selling platform within the area.

This announcement will increase the variety of reported HashKey impersonators to 45. In line with the SFC, these fraudulent platforms used minor alterations in official hyperlinks related to HashKey in an try and deceive potential buyers.

HashKey Response And Escalating Issues in Hong Kong Crypto Market

HashKey, one in all just a few SFC-approved crypto exchanges, was fast to disassociate itself from these fraudulent entities. In an official assertion, the trade emphasised that it had no reference to the impersonation platforms, reinforcing the necessity for purchasers to confirm hyperlinks and stay cautious. The assertion learn:

To mislead purchasers, fraudulent web sites will seem below totally different domains or with slight modifications or variations of the official HashKey Change web site deal with www.hashkey.com by including a mixture of letters, numbers or symbols. HashKey Change declares that it has no reference to the aforementioned fraudulent web sites. The web sites are usually not affiliated with HashKey Change or its associates in any respect. As such, we is not going to settle for legal responsibility for any issues regarding the web sites.

Notably, over the previous three years, the SFC has been actively monitoring the cryptocurrency market in Hong Kong, figuring out not less than 91 suspicious buying and selling platforms to this point.

This difficulty is a part of a broader regulatory problem confronted by Hong Kong authorities because the native crypto market matures. The scenario echoes the current collapse of JPEX, a digital foreign money platform accused of working and not using a license and defrauding round 2,000 buyers of 1.3 billion Hong Kong {dollars} (roughly $166 million).

The burden of the scandal aftermath highlighted the significance of “rigorous oversight” and immediate motion in opposition to unlicensed operators.

Hong Kong Points New Operational Licenses

In the meantime, Hong Kong continues to increase its regulated crypto ecosystem by introducing new operational licenses for digital asset platforms.

Earlier this week, the SFC introduced the approval of two further Hong Kong-based exchanges—PantherTrade and YAX—growing the full variety of licensed platforms by two because the regulator initiated its licensing program in 2024.

Publicly obtainable information from the Hong Kong authorities verify that these newly licensed platforms are registered below the Anti-Cash Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO), which serves because the regulatory framework for digital asset buying and selling platforms within the area.

Because the introduction of this regulatory measure in 2020, 10 crypto exchanges have obtained formal registrations, permitting them to function legally inside Hong Kong.