In short
- ASIC has accused Bitget of offering crypto -futures without a permit to Australians, the lack of a AFS license and bypassing investor protection.
- The Bitget products offer a maximum of 125x leverage, far above the limit of 2: 1 from ASIC, which exposes users to major financial risks, ASIC said.
- Worldwide supervisors have given comparable warnings since 2022, with actions in Spain, Japan, Germany and other areas of law.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has issued a public warning against Bitget and accuses the crypto exchange of offering risky crypto futures products without license.
ASIC said that Bitget and her parent company, BTG Technology Holdings Limited, “cryptocurrency futures products without a permit” promote Australian investors, in a rack Released on Sunday.
“Bitget has no Australian financial services,” said the regulator, “which means that it is not allowed to promote or encourage Australian investors to invest in his financial products.”
The warning from ASIC is the newest in a series of legal action, state, is aimed at protecting retail investors against speculative, complex and non -regulated crypto -financial products.
Similar action was taken last year when ASIC’s license of Binance Australia and derivatives and accused the platform The incorrect classification of retail customers, which means they are stripped important consumer protection, including statements of product knowledge and dispute settlement.
“The Australian government has been quite slow to clarify their expectations, and to this day this has still not done this in binding legislative form,” said Bridget Nichols, Chief Commercial Officer at Crypto Asset Manager Monochrome, said DecryptWhen asked about challenges to offer trade fairs in acquiring licenses for complex crypto products.
While ASIC limits lever ratios for licensed crypto derivatives at 2: 1 to protect retail investors, Bitget offers. Leverage up to 125: 1.
“For every dollar invested at this lever rate, there is potential for 125 times enlarged profits or losses for investors,” the regulator warned and said that “trade in very leverage of derivative products can lead to substantial losses.”
“If you invest in something that is not fermented in Australia and not regulated, it is more difficult to get help if something goes wrong,” ASIC warned.
Without a AFS license, Bitget users are not protected by guarantees such as internal dispute resolution or protection of customer money.
Although it acknowledges that “considerations of investor protection are of the utmost importance that ASIC has the right focus,” said Nichol’s “braking innovation is an unfortunate BI product, because ASIC is unable to keep up with the technical progress in the digital assets industry.
“Packing traditional finances on digital assets is the only currently available solution for regulatory clarity in Australia,” she said, and called Monochrome’s launch of a Bitcoin ETF, a “challenging path” that lasted three years.
Bitget stays registered With the Australian Financial Intelligence Agency, Austrac, for basic exchange services, but lacks the broader license for financial services needed for derivatives trading.
As international supervisors, the warning is increasingly examining the activities of Bitget, as quoted in ASIC’s statement.
Since 2022, authorities in Spain” AustriaGermany, Canada, FranceCyprus, Malaysia, and Japan have issued similar warnings or took regulatory action against various bitget entities.
Decrypt has approached Bitget with a request for comments.
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