A new report shows that the fallen crypto exchange FTX had already caused concerns with the Australian regulator months before its collapse. According to a document on The Guardian Australia’s website, the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) started investigating the firm’s local operation last March.
An article in the Australian Financial Review prompted the concerns. The article outlined the now-bankrupt exchange’s plans to launch in Australia within a few weeks. FTX caused more concerns when rumors that it would allow users to purchase cryptocurrencies with margin loans of 30 times their investment started making rounds.
In early April 2022, several Australian regulators held meetings with FTX leadership, and at that time, the exchange promised to operate under the stipulated while cautioning its customers about potential scams. However, the regulators somehow remained concerned about the FTX business.
Report Shows ASIC Issued Several Notices to FTX Australia Within a Few Months
In a span of four months, the ASIC had issued about four notices to FTX’s Australian subsidiary, requesting more information about its business operations. However, to avoid interfering with its law enforcement activities, ASIC did not issue the notices via a freedom of information request.
Also read:The Guardian Australia’s briefing document released on November 12, 2022, a day after FTX had filed for bankruptcy, indicates that, indeed, the ASIC had been carrying out what’s described in the document as a ‘surveillance activity’ on the fallen exchange since last March.
The document stated that since March 2022, the Australian regulator has been requesting information from FTX Australia regarding its financial offerings. Among the issues raised included the firm’s compliance with the ASIC’s product intervention order alongside pricing and how it registered new users.
FTX Licensing Strategy
It has been discovered that FTX Australian began its operations without ASIC’s approval because it evaded the usual licensing procedures by buying out an existing firm that had possessed an Australian Financial Services License since 2021.
Another revelation shows that IFS Markets, the company acquired by FTX, had also gotten the license by taking over another financial firm called Forex Financial Services a few months earlier.
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