The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today warns the public of a purported virtual asset trading platform (VATP) known as “MEXC” (Notes 1 and 2).
MEXC, which is actively promoting its services to Hong Kong investors, has neither been licensed by the SFC nor applied to the SFC for a licence to operate a VATP in Hong Kong (Note 3).
Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, it is an offence to carry on a business of providing a virtual asset service (ie, operating a virtual asset exchange) in Hong Kong and/or actively market such services to Hong Kong investors without a licence.
The SFC posted MEXC and its website on the Suspicious Virtual Asset Trading Platforms Alert List on 15 March 2024.
Once again, the SFC cautions investors against trading virtual assets on an unregulated VATP. Investors may risk losing their entire investment held on the platform if it ceases operation, collapses, is hacked or otherwise suffers from any misappropriation of assets. If in doubt about the licensing status of a VATP, please refer to the SFC’s List of licensed virtual asset trading platforms.
The SFC will not hesitate to take enforcement action against unlicensed platforms where appropriate.
Notes:
- MEXC refers to a VATP operating at (1) its website https://www.mexc.com/, (2) its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mexcofficial, (3) its telegram groups https://t.me//t.me/MEXC_ZH, https://t.me/MEXCEnglish, https://t.me/MEXC_ENofficial, (4) its X page https://twitter.com/MEXCZH, (5) its Reddit page https://www.reddit.com/r/MEXC_official/, (6) its LinkedIn page https://sc.linkedin.com/company/mexcofficial and (7) its YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@MEXCofficial.
- The SFC and Police have earlier warned the public of a suspected virtual-asset related fraud involving a separate entity that also uses the name “MEXC”. Please see the SFC’s press release dated 9 Feb 2024.
- MEXC recently launched a marketing campaign targeting Hong Kong investors under which new users from Hong Kong who successfully completed “KYC” within seven days of registration would be rewarded with 20 USDT. For Hong Kong users who referred friends to trade on MEXC reaching certain trading volumes, MEXC would reward such Hong Kong users with 10 MX.
