Cryptocurrency

The corporate regulator has won its case against Bit Trade, the Australian provider of the Kraken crypto exchange, after a judge rejected the company’s argument that its product was not a credit facility. 

The crypto platform formerly known as Be Pay Australia has settled a trade mark infringement suit by BPay after court-ordered mediation, changing its name and paying $50,000 toward the legal costs of the bill payments giant. 

Hong Kong-based NGS Crypto Group and its director have lost their bid to undo receivership and freezing orders made amid concerns about dissipation of assets as ASIC investigates whether hundreds of Australians who sank $21.1 million into the crypto firm were misled about the safety of their investments.

Former BitConnect national promoter John Louis Bigatton has been convicted for his role in marketing the online cryptocurrency platform, a global Ponzi scheme that reached a market capitalisation of $5 billion before its collapse.

A judge has declined to toss most of the claims brought against a crypto trading company by a former director, despite finding the director’s case “is not an easy one”.

The Australian provider of the Kraken crypto exchange has told a court that its margin trading product is not a credit facility, rejecting the corporate regulator’s “overly broad” definition of the word ‘credit’. 

ASIC has wasted no time in appealing a judge’s decision to excuse cryptocurrency product provider Block Earner from paying a civil penalty on the basis that it took advice from a leading law firm that was not seen by the court. 

A judge has excused cryptocurrency product provider Block Earner from paying a penalty in a case brought by ASIC, despite finding it provided a financial product without a licence, because it obtained legal advice and genuinely believed it was not breaching the law.

A class action against BPS Financial may abandon some claims after a judge found in a separate case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that the Qoin cryptocurrency issuer made false and misleading claims about its product.

Former BitConnect national promoter John Louis Bigatton has pleaded guilty over his role in marketing the online cryptocurrency platform, a global Ponzi scheme that reached a market capitalisation of $5 billion before its collapse.