Australian Government Official to Question Regulator Over Its Failure to Warn Crypto Investors

The Australian authorities’s assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has said his intention to question the nation’s securities regulator over its failure to warn buyers concerning the dangers of investing within the now-collapsed crypto funding agency Hyperverse. Jones said {that a} “bunch” of Australians had invested within the scheme whose solely supply of revenue was the cash coming from new buyers.

ASIC Accused of Failing to Follow the Lead of Other Regulators

An Australian authorities official has questioned the nation’s securities regulator over its failure to difficulty a client warning in opposition to the Hyperverse crypto funding scheme. Stephen Jones, the assistant treasurer within the Aussie authorities, mentioned he plans to ask why the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) did not observe the lead of regulators within the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and Hungary.

The remarks by Australia’s assistant treasurer got here simply days after a media probe discovered that the CEO of Hyperverse, Steven Reece Lewis, was a fictitious individual. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, two U.Okay. universities, specifically the University of Leeds and the University of Cambridge, have already mentioned they don’t have Lewis’ information.

According to media stories, the now-collapsed Hyperverse crypto funding scheme’s promotional materials falsely portrayed its CEO, Steven Reece Lewis, as a graduate of two increased studying establishments. In addition, the CEO additionally acquired plaudits from celebrities like Steve Wozniak and Chuck Norris. Both the celeb endorsements and diploma claims are thought to have helped the masterminds of the rip-off defraud hundreds of buyers.

Describing the operation which the masterminds employed to hoodwink a “bunch” of Australians into investing within the scheme, the assistant treasurer mentioned:

“This type of scheme works by convincing innocent people to invest their money into a product that might not exist, with the only source of income being money from new investors. I simply don’t know why a warning wasn’t issued.”

Jones additionally implied {that a} scheme reminiscent of Hyperverse bears hallmarks of a rip-off due to this fact potential buyers ought to have been warned.

Do you agree that regulator warnings will help buyers keep away from changing into victims of crypto scams? Let us know what you suppose within the feedback part under.