“It is also an offence for any person to issue advertisements, invitations or documents relating to these products to the Hong Kong public without the SFC’s authorisation,” the regulator stated.

11 Bybit Products Have Been Marked As Dubious

The cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has been added to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong's list of "suspicious virtual asset trading platforms." The banking regulator listed 11 of Bybit's products on its list of dubious cryptocurrency exchanges on Thursday.

Bybit Options, Bybit Leveraged Tokens, Dual Asset, Dual Asset 2.0, Bybit Futures Contracts and Inverse Futures Contracts, Liquidity Mining, ETH 2.0 Liquid Staking, Bybit Web3 Staking, Bybit Lending, and Bybit Wealth Management were all listed by the SFC as questionable investment products.

The public was also cautioned by the authority that Bybit is an unlicensed platform and that users run the danger of losing all of their money. Investors were notified by the SFC that "Seeking redress against entities that do not have a nexus with Hong Kong is likely to be difficult, and legal remedies may not be available.”

In a statement, the SFC said:

“The SFC is concerned that these products have also been offered to Hong Kong investors and wishes to make it clear that no entity in the Bybit group is licensed by or registered with the SFC to conduct any ‘regulated activity’ in Hong Kong.”

unless an exemption applies (Note 4). It is a criminal offence to carry out regulated activities without a licence.

It is also an offence for any person to issue advertisements, invitations or documents relating to these products to the Hong Kong public without the SFC’s authorisation. Any person who contravenes a relevant provision may be prosecuted and, if convicted, subject to criminal sanctions.”

Fintech Spark Limited Is Not Associated

The SFC stated in its statement that the operations in question were carried out by bybit.com, which is run by the Seychelles-based Bybit Fintech Limited. The Seychelles company, according to the SFC, is not to be confused with the different website bybit.com.kh, which is run by Spark Fintech Limited, a Bybit company that is based in Hong Kong. Earlier this year, Spark Fintech filed for a licence to operate a bitcoin exchange.