Hong Kong telecom operators, at the request of the government, have limited access to the website and application of the collapsed JPEX exchange. This was reported by the South China Morning Post.
According to the publication’s sources, authorities will also ask local social networks to remove all pages of the trading platform.
On September 18, JPEX suspended operations amid a liquidity crisis, and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) initiated a major investigation.
Soon, the police held a briefing at which they reported 1,641 complaints from clients regarding funds stuck on the exchange for a total of 19 billion Hong Kong dollars ($152 million). As part of the investigation, law enforcement officers quickly detained eight suspects.
Currently, the number of arrests has increased by three people. Among them, according to media reports, is a 31-year-old YouTube blogger. Authorities previously detained crypto influencer Joseph Lam for his connections to JPEX.
During the investigation, Asian TV star Julian Chung, who was an ambassador for the platform for a year, was also questioned.
In response to the enforcement restrictions, JPEX said the SFC had “unreasonably” blocked access to the exchange.
“Even in the face of such harassment and unfair treatment, our platform will continue to operate as normal. Users can log into our mobile application or work in the web version using VPN applications,” JPEX representatives noted.
In another message, the company continued the topic of restructuring in the DAO. According to the plan, JPEX users will be able to convert their holdings on the platform into “stakeholder dividends” at a one-to-one ratio. In total, the platform will distribute $400 million in governance tokens.
Recall that in September, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority warned unlicensed crypto companies against describing their services as banking services. The regulator regards such advertising as misleading to customers.
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