Hong Kong regulators issued a warning on the Bybit exchange
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission On March 14, 2009, he placed the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit on the warning list. “The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today warns the public about an unauthorized virtual asset trading platform (VATP) known as ByBit. “It offers trading services from crypto-related products in certain regions,” he wrote.
Included in the warning list are 11 products offered by the Bybit exchange such as Bybit Futures, Bybit Options, Bybit Used Tokens, Two Assets, Bybit Loans, Bybit Wealth Management and others. “The SFC is concerned that these products are offered to Hong Kong investors and would like to clarify that any entity within the Bybit group is authorized by the SFC or registered to carry out any ‘regulated activity' in Hong Kong. The controller.
Currently, crypto-related products may form futures contracts or securities and require prior approval from the SFC before being offered to Hong Kong residents. The March 14 alert concerns bybit.com and its Seychelles-registered owner, Bybit Fintech Limited, which is separate from bybit.com.hk, the same domain owned by Spark Fintech Limited, which currently does not offer crypto services in Hong Kong.
On February 1, Cointelegraph reported that Bybit is seeking a Virtual Asset Trading Operator (VATP) license in Hong Kong through its subsidiary Spark Fintech Limited. Only two crypto exchanges in Hong Kong licensed by the SFC are OSL Exchange, which was licensed on December 15, 2020, and HashKey Exchange, which was licensed on November 9, 2022.
The deadline to submit a VATP application for crypto exchanges operating in Hong Kong has expired on February 29. Unlicensed organizations must cease their activities in the special administrative region by May 31. Similarly, exchanges whose VATP applications have been rejected by the SFC should also be abandoned. city in three months.
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