South Africa regulator warns vs $170M firm Mirror Trading

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“Withdraw your funds from Mirror Trading International as soon as possible.”

This is the warning that the South African financial services regulator has issued to the public. The authority has launched investigations into the digital currency trading firm, after it said that it had noticed irregularities in its activities and profit statements.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) believes that the company has been operating without the required licenses. In its press release, the regulator claimed that MTI has been accepting funds in the form of digital currencies from its clients. The firm told the regulator that it pools the funds into one account on a forex derivative trading platform. This business model requires the FSCA’s license, which the regulator said Mirror Trading hasn’t obtained.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, the regulator said, noting, “The FSCA has a much greater concern about the activities of the company. MTI claims to have more than R2.9 billion ($168.3 million) in clients’ funds in trading accounts, but we have not been able to conclusively confirm that the funds exist.”

The regulator is thus advising the firm’s clients to “request refunds into their own accounts as soon as possible.” It has already ordered Mirror Trading to allow its clients to withdraw their funds, to which the firm has reportedly agreed.

The watchdog also pointed to the guaranteed returns on investment which Mirror Trading touts on its website as “far-fetched and unrealistic.” The company claims that its bot-trading model yields an average of 10% in profits monthly.

Additionally, the previous platform broker for Mirror Trading, FX Choice, has blocked its account due to compliance concerns. In its statement, FX Choice refuted many of MTI’s claims, including the use of AI and bots to trade as well as consistent profit making. “MTI executed just a few trading operations, which were performed manually, large and incurred substantial losses,” it stated.

“We are in the process of obtaining confirmation from FX Choice of the correctness of the statements attributed to them,” the South African regulator stated.

FSCA now joins Canadian and American regulators who have flagged the company. As CoinGeek reported, the Texas State Securities Board entered an emergency cease and desist order against the company in July. According to the TSSB, the firm had been offering fraudulent investments in a BTC and forex pool. The company had also been making claims of guaranteed profitability while concealing important information from the investors.

In Canada, Mirror Trading is listed as one of the companies operating illegally in the Quebec province.