Hong Kong has warned against “Kucoin,” an unregulated cryptocurrency exchange that demands money to unlock restricted accounts.
The public has been made aware of purported fraudulent activities by a cryptocurrency exchange that is posing as HKMA-regulated, according to a notice released by the HKMA.
The HKMA identified the digital currency platform “Kucoin” as falsely claiming it is licensed by the HKMA and issuing documents allegedly from the HKMA, “demanding payment of fees to recover money from the frozen account,” in a public warning posted on the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s official website on Friday.
Uncertainty surrounds whether KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange that recently withdrew its application for a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) license in Hong Kong, is the target of the HKMA’s warning. KuCoin has not released any statements to the public as of the time of publication.
The HKMA has emphasized that it doesn’t contact people about private financial concerns and has clarified that it has no affiliation with the cryptocurrency exchange.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against KuCoin in late March, alleging that the exchange and its founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, had violated the Bank Secrecy Act and that the platform had enabled illegal money transactions associated with money laundering.
Gan and Tang are both Chinese citizens who are still at large, as was previously stated. The founders and other connected individuals could spend up to 10 years in prison due to the charges. Customers left the cryptocurrency exchange with over $350 million after the lawsuit, despite assurances from company representatives that their money would be secure.
