Belgium's financial regulator adds 100+ new crypto trading websites to its blacklist

Regulation • December 19, 2018, 11:06AM EST
The Block

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), Belgium's financial regulatory agency, updated its blacklist of crypto-related trading platform to include over 100 new websites. According to the FSMA, these websites offer investments with claims that they are "secure, easy and very lucrative." Furthermore, these websites also tell potential investors they "don’t need to be an expert in cryptocurrencies" and that their "funds can be withdrawn at any time." In the end, however, FSMA states that these investors will "find themselves unable to recover their money."

FSMA's blacklist includes Belgian companies that:

  • Offered financial services and products without complying Belgian financial regulations
  • Infringed Belgium's  financial legislation and regulations
  • Operated "Recovery Room" fraud, where companies contact victims of earlier frauds, charge them fees, and pretend to recover their previous losses