Bitcoin News and Finance
Africrypt Ponzi Scheme Collapse: South Africa Regulator Says Its ‘Not in a Position to Take Any Regulatory Action’ Skip to main content

Africrypt Ponzi Scheme Collapse: South Africa Regulator Says Its ‘Not in a Position to Take Any Regulatory Action’

Following Africrypt’s collapse, South African regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), released a statement asserting its lack of jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies. Although the regulator says it is “continuing to investigate complaints” against the crypto investment company, it concedes it has only “found evidence of crypto-asset transactions.”

A Large Number of Scams

While the FSCA says it’s not in a position to take any regulatory action, in a statement released June 24, 2021, the regulator uses the Ponzi scheme’s global notoriety to warn the public about the “high-risk nature of investing in crypto assets.”

Meanwhile, in addition to the FSCA’s concerns surrounding the “suitability of crypto assets as an asset class” as well as their volatility, the regulator expressed concern over “the large number of scams being perpetrated by persons purporting to provide the crypto asset to the public.” According to the FSCA, many of the crypto investment companies are in fact fraudulent operations that may be based outside South Africa. The FSCA states:

Many of these entities (which we refer to as intermediaries) are often not based in South Africa or have poor security in place to protect the crypto asset being acquired by the public, and in theory, held on behalf of the customer. Often, however, these intermediaries are just fraudulent operators.

Although the regulator concedes that the South African crypto-asset sector “has a number of legitimate players offering a legitimate service” it urges investors to remain vigilant as there is a “very large number of unscrupulous players in this sector.”

Africrypt Takes Page From MTI Playbook

In its statement, the FSCA — which is in the process of considering declaring crypto assets a financial product — says it will “continue to update the public as more information becomes available regarding Africrypt.” The statement also urges investors to “always check that an entity or individual is registered with the FSCA to provide Financial Advisory & Intermediary Services.”

Just like Mirror Trading International (MTI), which Chainalysis ranked as the biggest bitcoin scam in 2020, Africrypt collapsed after its directors disappeared with investor funds. Also like MTI, the end of Africrypt was preceded by a breach and subsequent freeze in withdrawals sometime in April 2021.

At the time, Africrypt directors Ameer Cajee and his brother Raees Cajee, told investors the breach had compromised “client accounts, wallets, and nodes.” However, in anticipation of possible legal challenges, the directors warned clients against taking the legal route as “this will only delay the recovery process.” Since the hack announcement, the Cajee brothers have disappeared and local media outlets speculate they fled to the UK.

What are your thoughts on the FSCA’s response to Africrypt’s collapse? You can share your views in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory