Hong Kong’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SFC) today warned the public about suspicious investment products called ‘Floki Staking Program’ and ‘TokenFi Staking Program’, which include cryptocurrency staking services and claim to offer high annual return targets of 30% to above. 100%
The two products have not been approved by the SFC for offer to the Hong Kong public. The manager of the two products was also unable to demonstrate to the SFC’s satisfaction how the high annual return targets could be achieved.
The SFC notes that information about these two products and the products themselves are accessible to the Hong Kong public over the Internet. This led the SFC to publish the two products and their related information on the SFC’s Suspicious Investment Products Alert List on 26 January 2024.
The regulator is warning investors about “staking” arrangements related to virtual assets. As these arrangements could amount to unauthorized collective investment schemes and can be extremely risky, their investors have very little or no protection under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and may lose all their investments . Investors should also be wary of investment products that claim to offer returns that are “too good to be true” and remain cautious when making investment decisions.
The SFC will take all appropriate action where there is any breach of the law.