Belgian Watchdog Issues Warning Against OneCoin

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has issued a warning to the public that neither OneCoin nor the persons promoting OneCoin have been recognized or authorized by the regulator. The FSMA says that certain people have recently been promoting the cryptocurrency in Belgium.

Several online reports and posts in bitcoin trading forums refer to the Bulgarian-created venture OneCoin as a multi-level marketing (MLM) scam. There are no specific rules governing cryptocurrencies in Belgium that the FSMA could enforce against scammers other than raise the alarm for the public. The watchdog warns investors that OneCoin has not received any form of recognition whatsoever from the FSMA. The same is true of the persons who are promoting OneCoin: they do not hold authorization or any other form of recognition from the regulators.

The warning also specifically mentions claims made by Mr Laurent Louis’ on his Facebook page in French, namely, that the FSMA had stated that it “n’avait rien trouvé à redire sur le OneCoin” (unofficial English translation: “that it had nothing to say about OneCoin”) and that “pour la FSMA, le OneCoin ne pose aucun problème et n’est nullement illégal ni une arnaque” (unofficial English translation: “for the FSMA, OneCoin does not pose any problems and is neither illegal nor a fraud”). It said that there statements are false and misleading. The warning says these claims suggest or imply that the operations in OneCoin are carried out under conditions laid down by the laws and regulations which the FSMA enforces, whereas in fact these laws and regulations do not apply to such operations.

Join the Leading Industry Event!