Hong Kong to investigate JPEX cryptocurrency fraud

Hong Kong has required virtual asset trading platforms to be licensed by the SFC since the start of June this year. That is an offshoot of the amended Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing law from late 2022 that sought to reassert Hong Kong’s position as a world financial centre, Hong Kong police are investigating allegations of fraud against cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX after investors complained of HK$1.3bn ($166m; £134m) in losses. Last week, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) revealed the Dubai-based JPEX had been operating without a license for virtual asset trading. The platform, on the other hand, said it had “strived to comply” with the local requirement which took effect in June this year, but its efforts were “dismissed or sidestepped with official rhetoric” by the Commission. Has scamming been made easy through cryptocurrency platforms ?