The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has released a statement regarding concerns about suspicious practices and activities by JPEX, an unregulated virtual asset trading platform. The SFC expressed disappointment that JPEX has publicly shared confidential correspondence between the SFC’s Enforcement Division and JPEX, which violates the secrecy and confidentiality provisions of relevant ordinances. The SFC began investigating JPEX in March 2022 due to suspected false and misleading claims and unlicensed operations. JPEX has been uncooperative and unable to provide substantive responses to the SFC’s inquiries, leading to its placement on the SFC’s Alert List in July 2022. The disclosed correspondence is part of the SFC’s ongoing investigations. The SFC clarifies that JPEX has never sought a license from the SFC, and no entity within the JPEX group is licensed or has applied for a license to operate a virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong. The SFC has referred the matter to the police due to suspicions of fraud, and they are unable to provide further comments as investigations are still ongoing.
Resource:
https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=23PR104