Australian court sides with Finder Wallet in lawsuit brought by country’s financial regulator

An Australian court has ruled in favor of Finder Wallet in a lawsuit brought by the country’s financial watchdog against the crypto firm.

The court on Thursday dismissed the suit, ruling that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission “has not established that the Finder Earn product is a debenture within the meaning of a s 9 of the Corporations Act.”

The court ordered ASIC to pay the defendant’s costs, according to the court document.

In December 2022, the regulator sued Finder for “alleged unlicensed conduct and inadequate risk disclosure,” alleging that the Finder Earn product — offered to consumers between late February 2022 and November 2022 — closely resembled a debenture.

"We are delighted with this outcome, which confirms that Finder was compliant with our regulatory obligations in offering Finder Earn to our customers,” said Frank Restuccia, global CEO and co-founder of Finder, in a blog post. 

The crypto firm said in the post that it decided to “sunset” the Earn product in November 2022 and it had returned all customer capital.

In a Thursday statement, ASIC executive director for enforcement and compliance Tim Mullaly said that the regulator pursued this matter as it considered that "this product was being offered without the appropriate license or authorization and therefore without the benefit of important consumer protections.”

ASIC noted that it will “consider the judgment carefully” and that it has 28 days to appeal the ruling.