French authority warns public against a crypto firm

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The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) issued a warning to the public about a firm offering training courses, software for trading cryptocurrencies and forex markets investments.

On their website, the AMF, the stock market regulator in France, gave warnings regarding the operation of Kuvera LLC (1)/Kuvera France. The company offers the opportunity to subscribe for training courses and software solutions presented as an aid for investing in the Forex market and crypto assets.

The AMF pointed out that the company is mainly targeting young people, including high school students. In addition, Kuvera offers subscribers compensation, which helped increase the number of subscribers recruited.

AMF claims the company did not have any authorization to operate in the country. The website states:

“Following several reports from savers, including parents of teenagers and teachers, the AMF would like to make clear that this company has no authorization in France to operate an activity regulated by the AMF on French territory.”

AMF has previously given warnings to the members of the public regarding other fraudulent projects in the crypto space. Last year, AMF blacklisted 21 websites, which were allegedly operating illegally in the country. The sites were reportedly offering investment opportunities in initial coin offering (ICOs), cryptocurrency trading and mining activities without getting approval from the relevant authorities. Four months later, the authority added four crypto related websites for offering unauthorized investments to its blacklist. 

The rise of fraudulent activities in the crypto space has raised concerns with the authorities. Last month, the Finance Committee of France’s National Assembly had put together a report on crypto assets and blockchain technology. In the report, the committee claimed that it would be appropriate to propose a ban on activity related to cryptocurrencies built to provide higher levels of anonymity to users.

Éric Woerth, the president of the Finance Committee of France’s National Assembly, stated:

“We must be aware of the problems that cryptocurrencies can pose in terms of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering or fraud, or energy consumption. It would also have been appropriate to propose a ban on the dissemination and trade in cryptocurrencies built to ensure complete anonymity by preventing any identification procedure by design.”