The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a statement today repeating an earlier alert to investors to the potential risks of dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges and investing in initial coin offerings.
The SFC’s statement echoed similar concerns recently voiced by the U.S. SEC. That is, the SFC sent letters to seven cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong or with connections to Hong Kong warning them that they should not trade cryptocurrencies which are “securities” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) without a license. The SFC also called out professionals, noting that “ICO issuers are typically assisted by market professionals such as lawyers, accountants and consultants for advice to structure the offering as utility tokens to fall outside the purview of the SFO and to circumvent the scrutiny of the SFC.”