Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has listed cryptocurrency exchange Bybit as a suspicious platform, warning the public of the risks associated with 11 Bybit products.
The financial regulator has classified Bybit as a “suspicious” cryptocurrency trading platform. The regulator raised doubts about 11 Bybit products. These are Bybit Futures and Inverse Futures, Options, Leveraged Tokens, Dual Asset and Dual Asset 2.0, Bybit Shark Fin, Liquidity Mining, ETH 2.0 Liquid Staking, Bybit Web3 Staking, Bybit Lending, and Bybit Wealth Management.
The agency is concerned that the crypto exchange is offering these products to Hong Kong investors, but entities from the Bybit group are not registered with the SFC and do not have a license to operate in Hong Kong. The regulator noted that these products are offered on the bybit.com platform, which is operated by the Seychelles company Bybit Fintech Limited.
However, the regulator’s warnings do not apply to the bybit.com.hk website, which is owned by Bybit’s local subsidiary, Spark Fintech Limited, registered in Hong Kong. In February, Spark Fintech applied for a license, seeking permission to legally trade virtual assets in this administrative region of China.
A Bybit representative explained that the exchange offers different products for different regions to meet local requirements. The representative assured that the products in question are not available in the Hong Kong market.
Recently, the SFC began to investigate the activities of the BitForex cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of lack of a license and fraud. Not long before this, several fake websites imitating crypto exchanges were blocked in Hong Kong.
