False advertising. Bank, neobank, Fintech, crypto platform or a bit of all at the same time, long gone are the days of small village banking agencies that had a storefront! Today, offers are proliferating and service companies are racing to attract customers who want to pay daily and invest at the same time, sometimes at the risk of mixing genres. L‘The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sounds the alarm and warns the population against “some foreign cryptocurrency companies falsely posing as banks” and which deceive consumers. Details to follow.
- Hong Kong’s monetary authority has sounded the alarm about some foreign cryptocurrency companies falsely posing as banks.
- Hong Kong, while favorable to crypto innovation, has implemented a strict regulatory framework to avoid fraud and only grants licenses to a select few platforms.
Hong Kong has multiplied cryptocurrency-friendly announcements in recent months…
As we know, a special administrative region Hong Kong is a veritable open-air laboratory for China when it comes to crypto and tokenization of all kinds, and innovation in this small territory is going well. ETFs bitcoin AND Ethereum ahead of many other countries, a central bank digital currency currently being tested, stablecoins in the regulatory phase, a tokenization project with big names in global finance, a benchmark for BTC and ETH,Monetary authority local is flexible and open to experimentation, but wants to maintain the appearance of a regulatory framework.
For this purpose, she established a licensing system last June to separate the wheat from the chaff and secure the investments of these citizens. Making money with cryptocurrencies yes, but leaving the door open to scams and exchanges wobbly, no! Only after a few months of this policy OSL Exchange, Exchange hashKey AND HKVAX they won the precious sesame and the regulator is apparently targeting two companies whose names we do not know.
…but the country’s monetary authority does not want to see the proliferation of unregulated crypto platforms
It is more precisely about “Foreign Cryptocurrency Companies” which would therefore induce consumers in error by presenting themselves, incorrectly, as banks. However, to be considered a bank in Hong Kong, it is not enough to claim to be one, and the HKMA was keen to point out:
“The HKMA is concerned about certain allegations coming from certain companies that are misleading consumers into believing that they are banks licensed in Hong Kong and therefore under the supervision of the HKMA (…) and that their products and services are provided by approved banks. Such conduct may constitute a breach of banking regulations. »
Hong Kong Monetary Authority Press Release – Source: hkma.gov.hk
In its press release regulator states that one of the two companies used the word “flask” in one of these pamphlets, while another would use the word “bank card” describe your payment card service. Which is therefore prohibited. You are probably wondering who these two cryptocurrency platforms are, and so are we! Unfortunately, neither the HKMA nor the local press wanted to share the information, so we will be asking for more.
The only certainty is that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority does not play around with the law and is very strict when it comes to the use of the word bank. Therefore, residents of the special administrative region are encouraged to check the status of the company or the stock exchange on the organization’s website, and there is even a telephone number where they can ask for advice from a member of the regulation. On the banks of the Pearl River, we say yes to crypto, but not just any way.
