UK regulator adds Justin Sun-linked Poloniex to watch list after $100m hack

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of unauthorized companies. The Seychelles-based exchange is one of three companies owned or associated with entrepreneur Justin Sun that have suffered four hacks in the past two months.

The warning to Poloniex was published on the FCA's website on 6 December. It does not give reasons but says “companies and individuals cannot promote financial services in the UK without the necessary authorization or licence”. The FCA also reminds the public that it cannot rely on the protections of the Financial Services Act in relation to unauthorized entities.

In August, the FCA announced that it had received 291 applications from crypto companies seeking registration from 2020, and in October only 38 were approved. 140 were included in the warning list, including HTX and Kukui Since then, the regulator has granted a license to one entity, PayPal UK.

Cointelegraph reached out to Poloniex for comment and did not receive a response.

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Poloniex was the victim of a $100 million hack on November 10. According to the company, the platform has now “mostly” completed recovery efforts and was preparing to resume withdrawals and deposits at the end of November.

On December 5, the company resumed deposit and withdrawal services for certain cryptocurrencies through the Tron network, including Tether (USDT), USDD (USD), BitTorrent (BTT), WINkLink (WIN), ApeNFT (NFT), Sun Token (SUN). Just (JST), Just Stablecoin (USDJ) and USD Coin (USDC). According to the official statement, “relaunch of deposit and withdrawal services for additional cryptocurrencies on the platform will be gradually implemented.”

Tron founder Justin Sun owns HTX, a crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi. Solar-related platforms have suffered four hacks in the past two months. HTX lost $8 million in the September attack and $30 million in the hot wallet breach in late November.

Similarly, HTX's HECO Chain bridge, a device designed to move digital assets between HTX and other networks like Ethereum, was also compromised by hackers, sending at least $86.6 million to suspicious addresses.

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