The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) has recently initiated investigations against LonShiX and Bitbank, two cryptocurrency companies, for operating without the necessary licenses to offer, sell, and exchange digital assets.
The SFC has pointed out that LonShiX provided a false registration address in Hong Kong and employed social engineering tactics to entice investors into their trading platform by offering account openings.
Regarding Bitbank, the SFC suspects that the company has been sharing misleading information about its business online, falsely claiming to have obtained SFC approval and initiating the process of acquiring a virtual asset service provider license.
In response to the SFC’s request, the Hong Kong police have taken measures to block access to the websites of LonShiX and Bitbank, as well as their respective social media accounts.
In a related development, the SFC had previously blacklisted the websites of HongKongDAO and BitCuped projects for spreading false information, following their investigations.
Eleanor Ashworth is editor-in-chief at BTCNews. A Cambridge-trained journalist with 18 years across the Financial Times, Reuters and the Telegraph, she joined the crypto beat in 2017 after covering the Bank of England and HM Treasury. She holds the SABEW Best in Business award (2022) and was shortlisted for the British Journalism Awards (2023). At BTCNews she sets the editorial line for Bitcoin and macro markets coverage, with a focus on institutional adoption, regulation and central-bank policy. Based in London.
