South Africa’s financial services regulator, FSCA has warned the public about their dealings in crypto exchanges such as FTX & ByBit. In addition to that, they’ve added that FTX can’t authorize and provide any financial advice.
In its media release dated February 1, the regulator talked in detail that only licensed companies can offer intermediary services:
“Without commenting on the business of FTX or its products and services, the FSCA points out that, for a company to offer CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading in South Africa, it must be licensed to do so by the FSCA. The FSCA wishes to inform the public that FTX doesn’t have authority to trade in CFDs or to provide financial advisory and intermediary services in South Africa.“
Besides this, they said that communication with the FTX crypto exchange went unsuccessful. Meanwhile, FSCA has said:
“Members of the public should always check that an entity or individual is registered with the FSCA. This is to provide financial advisory & intermediary services.”
Also, the regulator has warned the public to look for persons & companies that have registered with them. Moreover, registered here refers “to provide basic advisory services for a low-risk product” but “offer services of a far more complex and risky nature.”
Besides FTX, FSCA has also issued a media statement for Bybit on the very same day. Reiterating the same statement, FSCA said that Bybit doesn’t have the license to provide financial services.
However, an interesting point here is the FSCA’s statement regarding Bybit. Unlike FTX, they’ve stated here:
“We urge the public to remain cautious when dealing with Bybit until they have applied for and received authorization from the FSCA.”
Related Stories: