The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has exposed LiquiTrade Ltd., a Cayman Islands-based company, for operating LATOKEN, an unregistered crypto trading platform in British Columbia.
According to the BCSC’s recent report, LiquiTrade has been facilitating the trading of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum without proper registration under the province’s Securities Act since 2020.
Investigations by BCSC reveal that LiquiTrade advertised LATOKEN as a regulated exchange and a top-40 most trusted exchange. These claims were found to be misleading during the BCSC’s probe.Â
A detailed analysis showed that LATOKEN had over 1.5 million traders and reported more than $300 million daily transactions. However, it lacked the necessary approvals to operate legally in British Columbia.
The BCSC investigation further discovered differences like transactions on LATOKEN. Users were not directly trading cryptocurrencies but were rather trading rights of assets.
Notably, LiquiTrade was also inspected by Germany’s financial regulator in 2022, which concluded the firm was unauthorized to provide financial services in Germany. The BCSC has yet to decide on the proper penalties to give LiquiTrade, which may entail heavy fines and an operations ban.
Also read: Dogita Launch on Solana Network and to be Listed on Latoken
