Spanish Watchdog Warns 12 Firms, Major Crypto Exchanges Among Them
- Six out of the twelve companies named in the notice have business relating to crypto, such as crypto exchanges Huobi and Bybit.
- The Spanish watchdog does not have the authority to place sanctions on these firms, but can appeal to the justice system to do so in time.
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Spain’s securities watchdog, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), has warned 12 companies, amongst which were Huobi and Bybit, they are offering unregistered services in the country, CNMV said in a notice on 16 August.
According to the announcement, the watchdog found 12 entities that were providing investment services in the country without having registered with the relevant authorities. Amongst the listed companies were crypto trading platforms Huobi and Bybit, as well as smaller crypto exchanges such as Dsdaq Market, Markets Cube, and Expertise Trader. The other entities named in the warning were Markets EU, Profit Assist, Financial Resident, Liberty Sky, N2 Group, and The Market Limited. The CNMV notice reads:
“According to CNMV records, these institutions are not registered in the corresponding registry of this Commission and, therefore, are not authorised to provide investment services or other activities subject to the CNMV’s supervision.”
Surprisingly, CNMV only has administrative powers in Spain, and is unable to outright ban the companies in question. If it wishes to take action against these entities, CNMV will need to appeal to the country’s judical system, which can then sanction the firms. The Monday notice appears to be more of a wakeup call for companies to begin registering with the relevant authorities.
Regulators around the world have been putting more and more pressure on crypto exchanges since the start of the year. The largest crypto exchange by market cap, Binance, has been on the receiving end of regulatory scruteny for a while now, which has forced the company to shut down support for its stock tokens, lower its leverage limit to 20x, scale down derivatives trading in Europe, and outright shut it down it in Hong Kong.
- The new license allows Bybit to offer its full suite of crypto services to users from the third most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea.
- It not only helped the exchange expand its global presence, but also showed its commitment to compliance with local rules.
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- Bybit is the latest exchange following Binance and OKX to announce its departure from the Canadian market due to “recent regulatory development”.
- Canadian nationals will no longer be able to open new accounts starting Wednesday, while existing users have until 30 September to withdraw their assets from the platform.
- The Securities Commission Malaysia ordered Huobi Global to stop all of its activities in the country as it was not registered with the regulator, and was operating illegally.
- The exchange was also directed to disable its website and mobile applications, as well as cease all advertising of its products and services in the country.