UK’s Financial Conduct Authority Flags Poloniex Amid Recent Crypto Hacks
Summary:
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added Seychelles-based crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of unauthorized firms. The platform, owned by entrepreneur Justin Sun, is part of a group of three companies that have suffered four hacks within the last two months. The FCA's warning did not specify a reason but reminded the public about the lack of financial law protection with unauthorised entities. Since 2020, the FCA has approved only 38 out of 291 applications from crypto businesses seeking registration. Poloniex recently reinstated deposit and withdrawal services for certain cryptocurrencies via the Tron network after recovering from a $100 million hack in November. Sun-owned platforms have experienced significant losses due to recent hacks.
Poloniex, a crypto exchange based in Seychelles, has been added to warning list of non-authorised firms by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This is one of three companies influenced or owned by Justin Sun, an entrepreneur who witnessed a series of four hacks against these businesses within the past two months. While the FCA has not given specific reasons for the warning against Poloniex, issued December 6th via their website, it clarified that without necessary authorisation or approval, neither companies nor individuals can offer financial services within the UK. It also took the opportunity to alert the public that dealings with unauthorised bodies do not enjoy the protection of financial laws. The FCA made known last August that from 2020, out of the 291 applications made by crypto companies for registration, only 38, representing around 13%, have been given approval. Further, the FCA warned 140 crypto companies two months ago, inclusive of HTX and KuCoin; since then, only PayPal UK has gained authorisation. Poloniex faced a hack incident on November 10th resulting in losses amounting to $100 million; the company stated that it has "mostly completed" its recovery process and was set to resume withdrawals and deposits by the end of November. On December 5th, Poloniex reestablished deposit and withdrawal services for certain cryptocurrencies through the Tron network - these include USDT, USDD, BTT, WIN, NFT, SUN, JST, USDJ and USDC. According to their official announcement, they will slowly reintroduce more cryptocurrencies for deposit and withdrawal services on their platform. Justin Sun, the originator of Tron, is also the owner of Poloniex and HTX (previously known as Huobi). The platforms associated with Sun have experienced four hacks in the past two months. HTX was a victim of attacks in September and late November, losing $8 million and $30 million respectively. Along with this, the HECO Chain bridge of HTX, developed to enable digital asset transfers between HTX and networks like Ethereum, was targeted by hackers who moved at least $86.6 million to questionable addresses.
Published At
12/7/2023 12:27:02 PM
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