ASIC claims that BPS Financial advertisements made "false, misleading or deceptive representations."
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator, has sued BPS Financial for misleading promotional advertisements for its Qoin crypto-asset.
According to the press release shared on October 25th, BPS Financial advertisements made “false, misleading or deceptive representations" that customers holding Qoin tokens can exchange them for other crypto-assets or fiat currencies using independent exchanges.
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On top of that, BPS used advertising to claim that Qoin tokens can be used to purchase goods and services. Moreover, the company allegedly claimed that Qoin Facility is registered in Australia and complies with local laws.
When talking about the lawsuit, ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court noted:
ASIC is particularly concerned about the alleged misrepresentation that the Qoin Facility is regulated in Australia, as we believe the more than 79,000 individuals and entities who have been issued with the Qoin Facility may have believed that it was compliant with financial services laws, when ASIC considers it was not.
Qoin was launched in 2020 by co-founders Raj Pathak and Tony Weise.
In response to the allegations, Qoin issuer shared a blog post claiming:
BPS is reviewing the allegations. <...> BPS does not agree with ASIC’s position and, confident of its position, will be defending the matter. Before it started, BPS consulted with ASIC in late 2019 regarding the structure of the Qoin project and did so again in early 2021. BPS will keep the community updated as it is able to.
ASIC is seeking “declarations, pecuniary penalties, injunctions, and adverse publicity orders” from the Court.
It is worth noting that in February 2021, Blockchain Australia (BCA) removed Qoin from its member list without disclosing the reasons for such a move.
The crypto-asset, Qoin, is not listed in any major crypto trackers.
