The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that it may take enforcement action against MEXC’s unlicensed operations. Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), issued a public warning against MEXC for operating without a license within its jurisdiction.
The SFC statement said:
"The entity (referring to MEXC Exchange) claims to be a platform operating on a specific website whose main business is trading virtual assets. It has been targeting Hong Kong investors but has not obtained approval from the Securities and Futures Commission license."
As a result, the platform has been added to the list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong, which includes other well-known crypto companies such as ByBit.
Violate local laws
According to the SFC, MEXC's operations in this area violated local laws.
SFC said:
“Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, operating a business providing virtual asset services (i.e. operating a virtual asset exchange) in Hong Kong or actively promoting such services to the Hong Kong investor market without holding an operating license is It is illegal.”
This is not the first time the SFC has issued a public warning about the MEXC exchange. Earlier this year, regulators said scammers were impersonating the crypto trading platform and luring unsuspecting victims into participating in what appeared to be crypto investment activity.
The link address used by the scammers starts with "MEXC" and ends with random letters, similar to phishing links.
Therefore, the SFC said it may take regulatory action against the platform if necessary.
SFC added:
"The SFC will not hesitate to take enforcement action against unlicensed activities where appropriate."
Meanwhile, the financial regulator has warned crypto investors not to trade on unregistered platforms, adding that they risk losing their investments if the platform experiences any sort of glitch.
The SFC’s warning against MEXC is not surprising given that the financial regulator recently closed the registration window for crypto companies to apply for licenses to operate within the Asian city-state region. Unregistered entities will then have until the end of May to close their operations. #香港證監會 #交易所監管
