Financial Regulation Authority of Hong Kong, known as the Securities and Futures Commission, gave several warnings to investors on Monday about the use of digital tokens and initial coin offerings that are potentially being used for building up illegal investment plans.
The Authorities have told investors to stay very vigilant when trading in the market. The regulatory authorities have their eyes on two additional property-based investment projects and a security token, named LABS, which are suspected to be performing illegal operations, so they are included in the CIS alert list for unauthorized operations. The LABS token, coming from the LABS group, helps users to perform partial investments into projects that involve real estate.
As for CIS and other investment-related products, they first have to gain approval for operations from the Securities and Futures Commission in order to operate in the market and do trade. So, without a proper license or any sort of registration, CIS cannot be sold by any firm or be involved in any projects, as it will be counted as a direct offence to the market.
The Warning
The Securities and Futures Commission has, however, allowed experienced investors to sell CIS, having no authorization. A person holding a portfolio of minimum value of around $1.03Million can also sell CIS without authorization. The securities and futures commission has still warned investors to take action with extreme caution if the investors are planning to buy any sort of CIS that is unauthorized and will be responsible for their own actions.
Executive Director from the Securities and Futures Commission, Christina Choi, said that investing in authorized CIS is highly risky, and there is a big chance that investors might lose their investments. Choi said that investors are advised to keep in check the updated alert list and make sure that they are performing investments that are approved by the commission.
Strict Regulations in Hong Kong
The Securities and Future Commission of Hong Kong has been remained actively alert on the regulations in regards to digital assets. Back in July, regulators from Hong Kong stopped users from trading on the worlds biggest crypto exchange, Binance, even if it was regulated. In response, Binance has stopped providing support to any of the stock tokens and other related products for users from Hong Kong.