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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. is putting all companies on notice. It is scrutinizing operations to ensure businesses have the requisite licenses and authorization to be active in the country, and has already sent out warnings about several entities in the digital currency space that it believes may be scams. Its aim hasn’t been 100% accurate, but the message is still clear – play by the rules or suffer the consequences. The FCA has now issued another notice, calling out digital asset trading platform Bitcoin Evolution for illegal operations.
The FCA had believed Kraken was operating illegally in the U.K., but pulled back when it realized the U.S.-based exchange wasn’t trying to pick up local business. Still, the warning served its purpose, as it exposed two scammers who were portraying themselves as Kraken employees. The regulator then went after the BitMEX exchange, which, for some puzzling reason, never denied the accusation that it was working illegally in the country.
As with these previous warnings, the FCA broke out its standard template with Bitcoin Evolution and asserts that it may be “providing financial services or products in the U.K.,” even though it has no license or authorization to operate in the country. As a result, the regulator warns that the trading platform could be nothing more than a scam, and suggests that users stay away.
The chances of Bitcoin Evolution being a fraudulent platform are high. The company has maintained an aggressive marketing strategy that has included a number of celebrities, including Daniel Radcliffe and Hugh Jackman, and Manchester United’s coach, Alex Ferguson. Since none of these has had any relationship with the company, creating fake marketing campaigns can only be the work of fake companies.
The scammers aren’t very creative, either. According to previous reports, Bitcoin Evolution is the reincarnation of Bitcoin Revolution, a site that was already forced to be taken down because it was nothing more than a scam. The fact that it can offer “0.01-second no-risk trade executions” and a “99.4% trading accuracy” should be enough to make anyone roll their eyes and walk away. There are also sister sites, such as Bitcoin Trader, Bitcoin Secret and Bitcoin Formula, that have been created to help spread the manure.
The digital asset community has already proven that it isn’t as gullible and won’t fall for scams that easily. However, there will always be those who try to take advantage of others due to their own lack of intellect, and continuing to call out these individuals is the only way to get them to stop.
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