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The Cyprus Security and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has once again blacklisted a batch of allegedly-fraudulent firms offering crypto and FX trading, the agency said in a memo.
According to the announcement, the seven blacklisted firms apparently operated illegally, and none of them had been granted approval for providing investment services in the country. The list of entities includes:
The regulatory agency also stated that investors need to do their due diligence, saying:
“CySEC urges investors to consult its website (www.cysec.gov.cy), before conducting business with investment firms, in order to ascertain the entities which are licensed to provide investment services and/or investment activities.”
Some of the blacklisted websites on the list have made promises about unbelievable returns, such as procloudoptions.online, which offers a 100% return on the investment in only 60 seconds after the Bitcoins have been sent to its wallet. The firm in question has claimed, on its website, that it is registered with the CFTC in New York, Belize and Cyprus.
A lot of the blacklisted firms claim on their websites that they are registered in Cyprus, and are under the supervision of the CySEC, such as keyoncapital.com and 246firstinvest.com. The latter has even gone as far as to claim that media outlets, such as Bloomberg and the Associated Press, have already reported on their project.
This is not the first time that the Cyprus SEC has blacklisted a bunch of crypto and forex exchange-related websites, in an attempt to protect investors from fraudulent offerings. Back in May, the regulatory agency blacklisted 11 websites, among which was one called Binance Capital Options, that had no connection with one of the world’s largest exchanges – Binance.